Credit score: Pixabay/CC0 Public Area
Is stress related to Alzheimer’s illness? It could be in ladies who’re postmenopausal, a examine led by The College of Texas Well being Science Middle at San Antonio (UT Well being San Antonio) exhibits.
Analyzing knowledge from 305 cognitively unimpaired members within the Framingham Coronary heart Examine, a long-term and ongoing community-based cohort examine of residents in Framingham, Massachusetts, the scientists found that top ranges of the stress hormone cortisol in midlife are linked to elevated amyloid deposition in postmenopausal individuals later.
Amyloids are proteins which have folded incorrectly, stopping biologic operate, forming deposits in tissues and organs, and are implicated in Alzheimer’s illness. By evaluating midlife cortisol ranges initially of a 15-year interval with illness indicators on the finish, the researchers have been in a position to decide that these ranges may function an Alzheimer’s illness biomarker, with specific consideration to gender variations and menopausal standing.
No vital associations have been noticed in males or with tau burden, referring to the tau protein that contributes to neuronal dysfunction and loss of life.
“The results highlight the importance of identifying early risk factors when biomarkers are detectable but cognitive impairment is absent,” stated Arash Salardini, MD, affiliate professor of cognitive and behavioral neurology with the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Illnesses at UT Well being San Antonio.
Salardini is first creator of the examine titled, “Elevated serum cortisol associated with early-detected increase of brain amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s disease imaging biomarkers among menopausal women: The Framingham Heart Study,” revealed April 24 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
Different authors are also with UT Well being San Antonio, in addition to the College of Texas College of Public Well being San Antonio; Framingham Coronary heart Examine of the Nationwide Coronary heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being; Boston College; Gonzaba Medical Group, San Antonio; College of Galway, Eire; Cedars-Sinai Medical Middle; Massachusetts Basic Hospital/Harvard Medical College; New York College Grossman College of Drugs; Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital; Yale College; and the College of California at Davis.
“Our work shows that considering sex and hormonal status in understanding Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis is important, and suggests that stress reduction and hormonal interventions may hold promise for Alzheimer’s prevention, especially in at-risk women,” stated Sudha Seshadri, founding director of the Biggs Institute and senior creator of the examine.
Focusing on threat components early
The examine notes that “sporadic” Alzheimer’s illness is the main reason behind cognitive decline in older adults. That encompasses a extended asymptomatic part of amyloid beta accumulation, the principle element of amyloid plaques, ultimately triggering progressive cognitive decline.
Recognizing that these organic adjustments are already properly established by the point signs emerge, efficient early interventions should goal Alzheimer’s illness threat components through the preclinical levels. Nevertheless, regardless of vital developments in understanding how the illness impacts the physique’s regular organic processes, greater than half of the general threat has remained unexplained, underscoring the important have to establish extra threat components that may be focused through the preclinical stage.
One promising line of investigation facilities on cortisol, a steroid hormone important for mobile homeostasis, or steadiness, and the stress response. Genetic research had recognized mutations in glucocorticoid, or steroid hormones which have anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive results, signaling pathways that improve susceptibility to Alzheimer’s illness.
Additionally, a number of cross-sectional and longitudinal research had reported that greater blood cortisol ranges are linked to an elevated chance of creating the illness.
To handle gaps and inconsistencies throughout these research, the researchers led by UT Well being San Antonio carried out a longitudinal evaluation utilizing knowledge from the third-generation cohort of the Framingham Coronary heart Examine, which dates to 1948 and is now directed by the Nationwide Coronary heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
They assessed the connection between serum cortisol ranges within the 305 cognitively unimpaired, middle-aged people—48.5% feminine, with a imply age of 39.6 years—and amyloid/tau burdens roughly 15 years later utilizing positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. They usually carried out multivariable regression analyses adjusted for confounders.
All this allowed them to analyze cortisol’s influence at an earlier stage of Alzheimer’s illness pathogenesis, the place interventions is perhaps handiest.
Given the neuroprotective results of estrogen and testosterone, which mitigate cortisol’s deleterious influence on neural tissues, additionally they explored sex-specific variations, focusing significantly on postmenopausal threat.
They hypothesized that cortisol’s influence on Alzheimer’s pathology can be extra pronounced in ladies, particularly after menopause, in keeping with some earlier findings.
Certainly, they discovered that postmenopausal ladies with excessive midlife cortisol are at elevated threat of Alzheimer’s illness, and that postmenopausal hormone adjustments could amplify cortisol’s results on amyloid.
“Longitudinal follow-up of our cohort will be crucial to determine whether these early amyloid changes translate into clinical symptoms and to clarify the causal role of cortisol in Alzheimer’s disease development,” Salardini stated.
Extra data:
Arash Salardini et al, Elevated serum cortisol related to early‐detected improve of mind amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s illness imaging biomarkers amongst menopausal ladies: The Framingham Coronary heart Examine, Alzheimer’s & Dementia (2025). DOI: 10.1002/alz.70179
Supplied by
College of Texas Well being Science Middle at San Antonio
Quotation:
Excessive midlife stress hormone ranges linked to Alzheimer’s threat in postmenopausal ladies (2025, Might 16)
retrieved 16 Might 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-05-high-midlife-stress-hormone-linked.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any truthful dealing for the aim of personal examine or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for data functions solely.
