CHILDREN born with heart defects are two-and-ahalf times more likely to develop dementia in middle age, according to research.

Older people with cardiovascular disease are known to be vulnerable to the devastating neurological condition, but the latest study suggests this also applies to those with congenital heart disease (CHD), which is diagnosed in at least 4,000 babies born in the UK each year.

The study, of more than 100,000 people across Denmark, could lead to them being screened for dementia in adulthood after finding the risk of any form, including Alzheimer’s disease, was 60 per cent higher in CHD patients overall.

But this rose 160 per cent (2.6 times) for “early-onset”

dementia diagnosed before the age of 65 – compared to 30 per cent after.

Carina Bagge, a medical student at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, said: “Previous studies showed people born with heart defects have a higher risk of neuro-developmental problems in childhood, such as epilepsy and autism. But this is, to our knowledge, the first study to examine the potential for dementia later in adult life.”