One of the cardiac conditions that can result in decreased blood flow to the brain is congestive heart failure, which can be caused by several types of cardiac damage, including that which comes from coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, or heart attack.

A Swiss research team examined 1,301 people 75 years or older without dementia three times over a nine-year period.

During that time, 440 of the subjects were diagnosed with dementia, including 333 with Alzheimer’s disease. At baseline, heart failure was identified in 205 subjects.

These findings showed that heart failure did increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and also that this risk was partially decreased in people who took high blood pressure medication.