Feb 17, 2021 Hypertension had strongest link to midlife brain hypometabolism What’s good for the heart is ultimately good for the brain, data from a prospective cohort study showed. The researchers noted that midlife cardiovascular risk — especially hypertension — in asymptomatic patients was tied to middle-age brain hypometabolism in areas known to be affected by dementia. Subclinical carotid plaque burden was also associated with reduced brain metabolism independently of the cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors — diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking — reported Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, of Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares in Madrid, Spain, and co-authors. “The findings presented here suggest that the interplay between cardiovascular risk factors, atherosclerosis, and altered brain metabolism starts early in life,” they wrote in the