Study Suggests Hypertension Could Lower Dementia Risk
Having hypertension might actually lower an individual's risk of developing dementia, according to a study recently published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
The data were originally published as a poster presentation in July 2014 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
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Noting that many previous studies have suggested that hypertension in midlife, which is typically thought to be a risk factor for dementia, is linked to a greater risk of dementia in later years, a team of researchers sought to investigate the association between the age of onset of hypertension and dementia risk in an oldest-old cohort. The investigators conducted a population-based, longitudinal study of individuals aged 90 years or older who were survivors from the Leisure World Cohort Study. The average age of participants was 93 years.
The authors estimated hypertension onset age using self-reported information from The 90+ Study and Leisure World Cohort Study, collected approximately 20 years earlier. In total, 559 individuals without dementia took part in the study. Participants' cases were followed with assessments every 6 months for up to 10 years. Evaluations included neurological and neuropsychological examinations, along with reviews of participants' medical records to check for diagnoses of hypertension. The researchers also measured individuals' blood pressure at the onset of the study.
In total, 224 participants developed dementia during the follow-up period (mean, 2.8 years). Compared with those without hypertension, individuals whose hypertension onset age was between 80 and 89 years had a lower dementia risk, while those with an onset age of 90-plus years demonstrated the lowest risk of dementia.
"Gaining a better understanding of dementia risk factors later in life is critical, since this group is the fastest-growing segment of the US population with the highest rate of dementia," said study coauthor Kathleen M. Hayden, PhD, associate professor of social sciences and health policy in the Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention at Wake Forest School of Medicine.
While noting that these results "could someday lead to changes in clinical guidelines for managing blood pressure over one's lifetime, we need additional studies to provide supporting evidence," Dr Hayden said. "This includes investigations into the underlying biology of hypertension and brain function. This study only serves as a starting point for future investigations, and no clinical recommendations can be made based upon this [particular] study."
—Mark McGraw
Reference
Corrada MM, Hayden KM, Paganini-Hill A, et al. Age of onset of hypertension and risk of dementia in the oldest-old: The 90+ Study [published online January 16, 2017]. Alzheimers Dement. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2016.09.007.