Excessive deposits of the same protein in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s Disease may also be tied to an increased risk of heart failure in Alzheimer’s patients.

Researchers compared the brains and hearts of patients with Alzheimer’s without known, pre-existing heart conditions to healthy individuals.

They found that in addition to increased deposits of the protein known as amyloid, Alzheimer’s patients had compromised heart muscle function at earlier ages.

This discovery challenges the longstanding explanation of the connection between the two diseases.

These findings suggest that Alzheimer’s disease may be more of a systemic disease than originally thought, with the potential to affect multiple organ systems.

You can read about the research in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Did you know men are at a higher risk of heart disease? Find out why and view an informative info-graphic here: http://www.themanlyzone.com/heart-disease/

(ABC)