Middle aged people suffering from hypertension have higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia, a research by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, suggests.
Researchers analyzed the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study to understand the effects of hypertension by assessing the results of three cognitive tests over time. The team used data from 13,476 participants (3,229 of whom were African American). The participants were tracked for 23.5 years.
The study found that hypertension between the ages of 48 and 67 over a 20-year period is associated with greater chances of cognition decline and it might be a strong risk factor for dementia.
Researchers stated that the decline in total cognitive scores for participants with hypertension was 6.5 percent more than those with normal blood pressure. The team found that an average ARIC participant with normal blood pressure at baseline reported a decline of 0.840 global cognitive score points during the 20-year study period. Whereas, the score was 0.880 points for participants with pre-hypertension and 0.896 points for patients with hypertension, researchers explained in a press release.
The study results showed that people with high blood pressure undergoing medication had less cognitive decline during the study time frame. Also, white participants had scored more in decline in global cognition scores compared to African Americans.
"Although we note a relatively modest additional [cognitive] decline associated with hypertension, lower cognitive performance increases the risk for future dementia, and a shift in the distribution of cognitive scores, even to this degree, is enough to increase the public health burden of hypertension and prehypertension significantly. Initiating treatment in late life might be too late to prevent this important shift. Epidemiological data, including our own study, support midlife BP [blood pressure] as a more important predictor of - and possibly target for prevention of - late-life cognitive function than is later-life BP," researchers wrote in the study.
Apart from cognition decline, high blood pressure can lead to a horde of diseases. As Mayo Clinic reports, hypertension can have negative impact on arteries, heart, brain and kidneys.
