Cognitive Decline may Decrease Risk of Cancer Mortality: Study

Aging can be a difficult process for anyone, particularly as elderly individuals notice diminishing signs of cognitive skills and mobility. Yet a recent study shows that there could be a small upside. For those dealing with the beginnings of dementia, researchers from University Hospital 12 in Madrid, Spain, note that they could also be at a lower risk of dying from cancer.

"Studies have shown that people with Alzheimer's disease are less likely to develop cancer, but we don't know the reason for that link," said study author Julián Benito-León, MD, PhD, of the university, via a press release. "One possibility is that cancer is underdiagnosed in people with dementia, possibly because they are less likely to mention their symptoms or caregivers and doctors are focused on the problems caused by dementia. The current study helps us discount that theory."

For the study, researchers looked at 2,627 adults over the age of 65 in Spain who did not deal with any symptoms of dementia at the beginning of the study. Throughout the three-year testing period, participants were tested on their memory and thinking skills. They were also followed for an average of 13 years.

Findings showed that 21 percent of the participants in the fastest-declining group died of cancer by the end of the study, compared to 29 percent in two of the other groups. Yet when examining other control health factors, including diabetes, smoking and heart disease, the results showed that those with the fastest decline in memory were still 30 percent less likely to die of cancer than other groups.

"I wasn't surprised by the results since there were other papers that suggested dementia decreased the risk of cancer," said study author Dr. Julian Benito-Leon, a staff physician in neurology at the hospital, via Health Day. "If, in the future, we could disentangle the mechanisms that trigger Alzheimer's disease, we could design and develop new and improved drugs that specifically damage cancer cells."

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More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Neurology.