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Women with cardiac disease are at a high risk of developing a condition that affects their thinking, language and judgment, says a new study.

The condition, called nonamnestic mild cognitive impairment, doesn't lead to memory loss. However, it is known to be a warning sign for vascular and other non-Alzheimer's dementia. In vascular dementia, people have difficulty in problem-solving, reason and judgment due to impaired blood flow to the brain. People can reduce the risk of vascular dementia by controlling their blood pressure.

"Prevention and management of cardiac disease and vascular risk factors are likely to reduce the risk," said Rosebud Roberts, M.B., a health sciences researcher at Mayo Clinic in a news release. Roberts is the lead author of the study.

The study included more than 2,500 people aged between 70 and 89 years.  At the start of the study, about 1,450 people didn't have mild cognitive impairment, and more than half of these people (669) had heart disease. Researchers found that among these people, about 8.8 percent (59 people) developed nonamnestic mild cognitive impairment, while just 4.4 percent of the non-heart disease patients developed the condition.

Previous research has shown that metabolic syndrome, and more importantly inflammation that is associated with chronic diseases like type-2 diabetes and obesity, is also linked with nonamnestic mild cognitive impairment.

"Cardiac disease is an independent risk factor for naMCI; within-sex comparisons showed a stronger association for women," the study concluded.

The study is published in the journal Archives of Neurology.

Heart Disease - Not just a man's disease

The present study by Rosebud Roberts and colleagues shows that women are at a great risk of developing dementia due to heart disease. However, according to data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is generally thought of as a "man's disease", despite the fact that heart disease killed more than 290,000 women in the year 2009 alone.