Midlife High Blood Pressure Affects BP-Cognition Link in Old Age


Midlife High Blood Pressure Affects BP-Cognition Link in Old Age

Knowledge of blood pressure in midlife is crucial to understanding the link between blood pressure and cognitive impairment in old age, a new study suggests.

The study — part of the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility (AGES)-Reykjavik study, which has been following a population from Iceland since 1967 — found that the relationship between blood pressure and brain changes consistent with cognitive impairment in late life depended on whether the individual had a history of hypertension in midlife.

In those without a history of midlife hypertension, higher late-life systolic and diastolic blood pressure was associated with an increased risk for white matter lesions and cerebral microbleeds. In contrast, in participants with a history of midlife hypertension, lower late-life diastolic pressure was associated with smaller total brain and gray matter volumes and lower memory scores.

The researchers, led by Majon Muller, MD, PhD, from the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Maryland, report their results online June 4 in Neurology.

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