By Mike Moen/PNS

During February, Americans are urged to pay closer attention to their heart health. Experts say new findings suggest it can keep your brain in better shape, and South Dakota has an opportunity to help with prevention.

With American Heart Month underway, the American Heart Association's statistics update said in the past decade, global death rates from Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia have grown at a faster pace than heart-disease death rates.

Mitchell Elkind, a neurology professor at Columbia University and immediate past president of the American Heart Association, said it coincides with research connecting heart disease risk factors and the likelihood of dementia.

"That boundary that we used to draw between vascular diseases of the brain, like stroke, and degenerative problems, like Alzheimer's disease, is beginning to fade away," Elkind explained.

The report showed that keeping blood pressure low can reduce the risk of dementia later in life.

Meanwhile, groups supporting Medicaid expansion in South Dakota emphasized covering more people could go a long way toward keeping them healthier. Expansion is on the fall ballot but is opposed by some leaders, including Gov. Kristi Noem.

Lindsey Karlson, director of quality improvement for the Community HealthCare Association of the Dakotas, said the clients they work with fall into the coverage gap; they make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but can't afford other health insurance plans.

Community health centers will see them for primary care, but Karlson pointed out having insurance gives them more options.

"Medicaid expansion helps that patient get access to additional specialty care that they might need, so we're talking heart disease," Karlson explained.

South Dakota is among the last states holding out on Medicaid expansion, primarily funded by the federal government under the Affordable Care Act.

Elkind added there is a genuine concern with many people not having health care access or forgoing preventive care in the pandemic; the situation will only worsen.

"We are seeing an increase in cardiovascular disease and strokes, and that might lead to an increase down the line in people with not just dementia, but all sorts of long-term, chronic health issues," Elkind cautioned.