ArticlePreventive medicine reports2020
Does sauna bathing protect against dementia?
Article in Preventive medicine reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between lower body temperature and increased tau pathology in cognitively normal older adults.Neurobiology of disease · 2022Trial
- Effect of repeated hot water immersion on cognitive performance, cerebrovascular function, sleep and biomarkers of neurodegeneration in older adults.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Eight weeks of post-exercise local heating does not improve cognition and plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor concentrations.Experimental physiology · 2025Article
- Thermal Cycling Stimulation via Nasal Inhalation Attenuates AβInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Sauna therapy in rheumatic diseases: mechanisms, potential benefits, and cautions.Rheumatology international · 2025Review
- The multifaceted benefits of passive heat therapies for extending the healthspan: A comprehensive review with a focus on Finnish sauna.Temperature (Austin, Tex.) · 2024Review
- Predictors of Conversion to Dementia in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment: The Role of Low Body Temperature.Journal of clinical medicine research · 2023Article
- Daily Brief Heat Therapy Reduces Seizures in A350V IQSEC2 Mice and Is Associated with Correction of AMPA Receptor-Mediated Synaptic Dysfunction.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Hot head-out water immersion does not acutely alter dynamic cerebral autoregulation or cerebrovascular reactivity to hypercapnia.Temperature (Austin, Tex.) · 2021Article
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine Approaches in Alzheimer Disease and Other Neurocognitive Disorders.Missouri medicineReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Repeated heat exposure like sauna bathing is suggested to beneficially affect against dementia development. The epidemiological evidence is, however, scarce. Therefore, we studied the association between heat exposure during sauna bathing (i.e., the frequency of sauna bathing, frequency of heat sessions, length of stay in heat, sauna temperature) and the subsequent risk of dementia. A prospective cohort study was conducted based on 13,994 men and women aged 30-69 and free from dementia diagnosis from the Finnish Mobile Clinic Follow-up Survey. During a follow-up of 39 years, a total of 1805 dementia patients were diagnosed. The sauna bathing data was gathered from a questionnaire. Analyses based on the Cox model included the sauna bathing variables and the potential confounding factors. Sauna bathing frequency was related to a reduced risk of dementia after adjustment for the potential sociodemographic, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors of dementia considered. The hazard ratio of dementia between individuals sauna bathing 9-12 times per month in comparison with those not sauna bathing or sauna bathing less than four times per month was 0.47 (95% CI = 0.25-0.88) during the first 20 years of follow-up and 0.81 (95% CI = 0.69-0.97) during the whole follow-up. The results are in line with the hypothesis that sauna bathing provides protection against dementia. Further studies are required to verify the suggested benefits of sauna bathing.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.