BMJ Mental Health (2025)
Summary
This study explored mental health conditions in individuals who have experienced physical abuse in intimate relationships in the past. Up to 30% of women worldwide experience IPV, and this often involves blows to the head which can lead to traumatic brain injuries (TBI). TBI can increase the risk of mental health conditions and dementia. Survivors of physical abuse had higher rates of mental health issues. Compared to those without a history of physical abuse, survivors were more likely to experience depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), even decades after the abuse had ended. TBI made mental health problems worse, among survivors, those with a history of TBI were more likely to have PTSD or several ongoing mental health issues in mid-life.
These findings highlight the need for long-term mental health support for survivors, even decades after the abuse ended. They also suggest that healthcare professionals should assess head injuries when treating survivors, as TBI could contribute to worsening mental health in both the short and long term.
Alzheimer’s & dementia (2025)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.70075
Summary
The study explores whether there is a connection between the tiny blood vessels in the eye’s choroid (a layer behind the retina) and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in middle-aged adults who are cognitively healthy. It included 69 middle-aged adults from the PREVENT Dementia programme who had undergone optical coherence tomography (OCT) scanning. We used OCT to measure the choroidal blood vessels. Participants were divided into low, medium, and high-risk groups based on genetic factors, family history of dementia, and the CAIDE score. We found that individuals with a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s had thicker choroidal blood vessels and more vascular tissue compared to those with lower risk. Specifically, a small increase in choroidal vascular area was linked to a higher likelihood of having Alzheimer’s risk markers. The results suggest a potential link between the choroidal microvasculature and Alzheimer’s disease risk, but the findings are preliminary and need to be confirmed in larger, more diverse studies. This research highlights the potential of using eye exams to identify early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, which could lead to earlier interventions and better outcomes for those at risk.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (2024)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1509223
Summary
Allostatic Load (AL) is a way to describe the damage to your body that happens when you are constantly stressed for a long time. This study looked at how different types of stress over your life, as well as having a healthy lifestyle, can affect Allostatic Load.
The researchers studied information from 620 people who were part of the PREVENT dementia program. They found that doing sports and having a healthy diet directly helped reduce Allostatic Load. They also found that playing sports could help a person handle stress better, but sleep was really important for this to work. Both stress and how well you deal with it affected sleep, which in turn played a big role in how Allostatic Load changed. Using healthy habits, like eating well and getting good sleep, to manage stress is likely to be good for our health.
Human Brain Mapping (2024)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26798
Summary
In this study we investigated if subtle changes on MRI scans were associated with a risk gene for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The Apolipoprotein e4 (APOE4) gene, can be detected by analysing the texture of brain images. One of the most well established changes in people in the early stages of dementia is that they have lower brain volumes in some brain areas such as the hippocampus. This is typically detected using structural MRI scans. However, changes on the MRI scan might be very subtle in early stages of the disease and the analysis of brain volumes might not capture them.
Therefore this study analysed the texture of structural MRI scans in both the PREVENT and the ALFA studies. Data from 1585 participants from these studies was analysed (mean age of 56 years). There were no textural or volumetric differences found in this middle-aged cohort between carriers and non-carriers of the APOE4 gene. These results suggest that structural changes in people at higher risk of dementia based on the APOE4 gene cannot be detected at this stage with simple volume analysis or even with more advanced computational methods.
Brain Communications (2024)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcae392
Summary
‘This study looked at “Brain Age Gap” (BAG) in middle-aged people. BAG is the difference between a person’s actual age and the age their brain appears to be based on MRI scans. A bigger gap means the brain appears older than it is.
We found that in middle-aged people, a larger BAG was linked to high blood pressure and drinking alcohol, but not to APOE4 genotype, amyloid plaques (a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease), or how well people did on cognitive tests.
This means that some things that make your brain look older on scans are related to lifestyle factors that we can change. The study is important because it helps us understand how brain aging works in middle age, which could be the best time to start treatments to prevent dementia.
