Study finds lower blood pressure lowers risk of developing dementia
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Study finds lower blood pressure lowers risk of developing dementia
An encouraging study being reported as a big breakthrough has found that aggressively lowering blood pressure can reduce a person’s risk of developing dementia. This study’s findings are a major step and for the first time a single step that has been clearly shown to help prevent Alzheimer’s. Specifically this research has shown that individuals in the study who kept their systolic or top blood pressure number at 120 instead of 140 were 19 percent less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment. These same participants also displayed fewer signs of damage on brain scans with a possible trend toward fewer cases of dementia.
The federally funded study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, involved more than 9,300 people with high blood pressure. The participants were placed in two groups – one group was given two medications, on average, to keep their top blood pressure reading below 140. The other half got three drugs, on average, and aimed for their top blood pressure reading to be at 120 or less. While being conducted, the top pressure averaged 121 in the intensive-treatment group and 135 in the other group. Of the participants who had the higher top or systolic blood pressure reading, about half of them who had mild cognitive impairment, developed dementia over the next five years.
Last November in 2017, new guidelines released by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, changed the definition of high blood pressure or hypertension. Previous guidelines that have been used for many years defined high blood pressure as 140/90 millimeters of mercury or greater. Now, the new guidelines defines high blood pressure as 130/80 or greater. The top or first number is called the systolic pressure describing the pressure on blood vessels when the heart takes a beat and the bottom or second number is called the diastolic pressure when the heart relaxes or is in-between beats. Because of this change in blood pressure guidelines, almost half of adults in the United States have high blood pressure. The study that led to this change is this same study presented in this article.
The study was stopped almost two years early in 2015 when the results became clear that lower blood pressure helped prevent heart problems and deaths from heart disease. Those treated aggressively for their high blood pressure for management of cardiovascular risk factors also showed a reduction of their risk for cognitive impairment. The researchers involved with the study stated that it have been known for a long time that high blood pressure is not only bad for a person’s heart health but now it appears to be bad for brain health too.
This news is very much welcomed and needed as worldwide, 50 million people have dementia with Alzheimer’s diseases the most common type. At this time there is no cure. Medications such as Aricept and Namenda help ease symptoms of Alzheimer’s but do not cure it.
High blood pressure damages blood vessels and has long been linked to a higher risk of dementia. What was not known was whether lowering blood pressure would reduce a person’s risk of developing dementia or by how much. MRI scans on 454 participants showed that those in the lower pressure group had less white matter lesions which are areas of scarring or damage from injury, such as inadequate blood supply. This finding matched other results on thinking skills strengthening the evidence that lowering blood pressure does help in reducing risk of dementia.
The takeaway message from this research is that it is never too early or too late to protect your cognitive functioning. One way is to know what your blood pressure is and to get it under control as early in life as possible. Here are lifestyle changes recommended by the American Heart Association to help manage blood pressure:
· Take medications as directed