High Blood Pressure Raises Dementia Risk

 

If you have high blood pressure in middle age, you have an increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia as you grow older, according to a meta-analysis reported in the Berkeley Wellness Letter. Mounting research suggests that having high blood pressure in midlife may harm your brain down the line and that taking aggressive measures to lower elevated blood pressure might help preserve cognition later in life. Indeed, the NIH and several Alzheimer’s disease associations list keeping blood pressure at healthy levels as one of the steps to help maintain cognitive health.

The studies included in the review linked high blood pressure (130/80 or higher) when 35 - 45 years old to increased risk for cognitive impairment at age 70. People who aggressively treated their blood pressure to keep it at 120/80 or lower developed fewer of the brain lesions associated with cognitive decline than those who's blood pressure remained higher. Systolic pressure (the first, higher number) appeared to be the most important factor with pressures above 140 especially risky.

It makes sense that high blood pressure is bad for the brain. After all, it can harm small blood vessels that nourish brain cells, resulting in damage that increases the risk of dementia as well as stroke. And vascular factors may affect amyloid and other neurodegenerative protein deposits in the brain that are a hallmark of Alzheimer's. If the latest findings are confirmed by other ongoing trials, that will be another reason to lower elevated blood pressure to as close to normal as possible—to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. 

The best option is to lower blood pressure via lifestyle changes such as losing excess weight, improving diet, exercising, limiting sodium intake, and not smoking. Such steps may make drugs unnecessary or, if medication is needed, allow you to take a lower dose or fewer drugs. Do it now, while you can still remember.