In older adults, anaemia may increase dementia risk

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-04-18 01:00

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European scientists say older adults with anaemia (a lack of healthy red blood cells or haemoglobin, impairing oxygen transport in blood) may be at a higher risk of developing dementia than those without the condition. The team enrolled 2,282 dementia-free Swedish over-60s, and followed them up for an average of 9.3 years. During the study, 362 of them (15.9%) developed dementia. The researchers looked at whether they had anaemia, whether they had signs of Alzheimer's disease in their blood, and whether they went on to develop dementia. They found those with anaemia had higher levels of Alzheimer's-related signals in their blood, and were at greater risk of developing dementia. And the greatest risk of dementia was seen among people who had both anaemia and Alzheimer's signatures in their blood. The findings suggest anaemia may accelerate dementia, the authors conclude.

News release

From: JAMA

Anemia and Blood Biomarkers of Alzheimer Disease in Dementia Development

About The Study: In this cohort study of dementia-free older adults, anemia was associated cross-sectionally with higher levels of Alzheimer disease blood biomarkers and longitudinally with increased dementia risk. The highest dementia risk occurred when low hemoglobin and elevated Alzheimer disease biomarkers coexisted, suggesting a potential interplay between anemia and neuropathology in dementia development.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

Funder: Data collection of the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K) was supported by grant 2021-00178 from the Swedish Research Council and by the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and the participating county councils and municipalities. This work was further supported by project LA2023-0113 from Stiftelsen Sigurd och Elsa Goljes minne (Dr Valletta), postdoc stipend 2021-0025 from Hjärnfonden (Dr Grande), grant 2021-01235 from the Gamla Tjänarinnor Foundation (Dr Grande), and grant 2025: 1022848 from Svenska Läkaresällskapet (Dr Grande).

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