People who receive stronger-than-normal blood pressure treatments have been found to be 19 per cent less likely to later develop signs of cognitive impairment, a common prelude to dementia. The results provide new hope that targeting blood pressure could be an effective measure for preventing dementia.
The findings come from a study of more than 9000 people in the US, around the age of 68. Beginning in 2010, the trial involved giving participants different levels of treatment for high blood pressure. Half received standard treatments to reduce their blood pressure to stable, but above normal, levels. The other half were given a stronger regime, bringing their blood pressure into the normal, healthy range.
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The trial was set up to see if stronger treatment benefited heart health, and was ended prematurely, in 2015, because the results were so positive.
But researchers carried on monitoring more than 8600 of the participants to see if there were also any benefits for brain health. Analysing the data up to June this year, they found that the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment was 19 per cent lower in the aggressively treated patients than those receiving standard treatment.
Healthy living
鈥淭his is something doctors and the majority of their patients with elevated blood pressure should be doing now to keep their hearts, and brains, healthier,鈥� said of Wake Forest School of Medicine, who presented his team鈥檚 results in Chicago at the US today. 鈥淭hese new results for maintaining cognitive health provide another strong rationale for starting and maintaining healthy lifestyle changes in mid-life.鈥�
鈥淭his is the first large-scale clinical trial showing an aggressive approach to treating high blood pressure does reduce the number of people on a pathway to Alzheimer鈥檚 disease,鈥� says , of the Alzheimer鈥檚 Association, a US charity.
Fargo says not all individuals with mild cognitive impairment go on to develop dementia, but the results support growing evidence that leading healthier lifestyles can help people protect their brain health.
Read more: High blood pressure in older people linked to Alzheimer鈥檚 disease
