- Previous research shows that several health conditions can increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, including high blood pressure.
- Researchers estimate that 46% of adults worldwide are unaware they have high blood pressure.
- Researchers from the University of New South Wales have found that people with untreated high blood pressure may have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to people who have been or are being treated for high blood pressure.
Previous research shows that a number of health conditions can increase the risk of developing a type of dementia called Alzheimer’s disease, including
High blood pressure is also a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, a disease for which there is currently no cure.
A new study has found that people with untreated high blood pressure may have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to people who have been or are being treated for high blood pressure.
“There are many preventable risk factors for dementia, but hypertension remains the most common, affecting
“Given the progress we still have to make in hypertension, we felt that understanding its exact relationship to dementia was a critically important public health issue,” he said.
The study is published in Neurologythe medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
For this study, Lennon and his team analyzed data from more than 31,000 people with an average age of 72 who were enrolled in 14 studies measuring
When examining blood pressure data from all participants, the researchers found that 9% had untreated high blood pressure, 51% were currently taking blood pressure medication, 36% did not have high blood pressure, and 4% were considered unsure.
“Hypertension is perhaps the most underdiagnosed and undercontrolled risk factor for dementia. It is estimated that
After adjusting for factors such as gender, age and education level, Lennon and his team found that study participants with untreated high blood pressure had a 36 percent increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to people without high blood pressure.
Compared to people with high blood pressure who took blood pressure medication, researchers found that people with untreated high blood pressure had a 42 percent increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Lennon said they were surprised by the study’s results.
“After looking extensively at the literature, we found that few other studies had found such a large difference in the risk of Alzheimer’s-related dementia between people with treated hypertension and those without,” he said. “This really underscored the importance of blood pressure management, even in old age.”
“Although our results suggest that people with treated hypertension appear to have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s dementia than those with no history of hypertension, this should be interpreted with caution because the difference in risk between these two groups was not statistically significant.”
— Matthew J. Lennon, MD, Ph.D.
Lennon and his team hope their findings will emphasize to doctors the importance of discussing high blood pressure treatment with their patients.
“Particularly as people age, their own perspective and that of their doctors about managing their chronic conditions such as hypertension may become less vigilant,” Lennon said. “This is especially true for hypertension, because at that time it is almost universally asymptomatic – a silent killer. Doctors need to give their patients accurate and reliable information about the risks of not taking effective medications.”
“Our results will help provide older adults with more data and information about whether taking antihypertensive medication is the right decision for them, with greater emphasis on the protective cognitive effects of antihypertensive medication.”
— Matthew J. Lennon, MD, Ph.D.
“While we looked at cognition and dementia as a binary and singular concept in this paper (i.e. you either have dementia or you don’t), in our ongoing research we are breaking down cognition into subdomains and examining whether blood pressure and antihypertensive medications affect different cognitive functions in different ways. We have obtained some exciting and interesting preliminary results that we hope will be published in the near future!” he added.
MNT I also spoke with Cheng-Han Chen, MD, a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California, about this study.
“Hypertension is a known important risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases,” Chen said.
“Although high blood pressure is also known as a risk factor for developing vascular dementia, this meta-analysis also revealed an association between untreated hypertension and Alzheimer’s dementia. This finding further underscores the importance of treating high blood pressure and demonstrates the impact of high blood pressure on many organ systems in our body.”
— Dr. Cheng-Han Chen
Chen said it was not entirely clear to what extent untreated high blood pressure was associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s dementia.
“It’s possible that there’s an overlap between Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia diagnoses,” he continued. “It’s also possible that the relationship is reversed, meaning that Alzheimer’s patients are less likely to see their doctor regularly and therefore have high blood pressure at home that’s not being treated.”
“These results further demonstrate the importance of hypertension as a modifiable risk factor in many different disease states,” Chen added. “Future research should investigate the long-term relationship between hypertension and Alzheimer’s disease, extending back into middle age.”
