2023-05-22 08:49:58
A study points out the importance of controlling blood pressure, also at this stage of life, to prevent Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia.
A retrospective study carried out in more than 800,000 people aged 66 years and without dementia at the beginning, reveals that a systolic blood pressure (BP) greater than 159 mm Hg increases the risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or any other type of dementia by 6 and a 12%, respectively. Systolic and diastolic BP values in the ranges of 130-139 mm Hg and 80-89 mm Hg, respectively, were associated with an approximately 13% increased risk of vascular dementia. Throughout the follow-up period, of more than 6 years on average, the scientists found no risk association between BP below the indicated values and any type of dementia. The study also highlights the relevance of frailty, which had an unfavorable impact on the risk of almost all types of dementia in the indicated systolic and diastolic BP ranges.
Dong Wook Shin, a researcher at the Samsung Medical Center and co-director of the study, affirms that it has been carried out in fundamentally healthy people, without physical disabilities, cancer or advanced kidney disease, also excluding those with an incomplete medical history, which would reduce heterogeneity and the number of potential confounding factors. Although multiple previous papers have established a strong risk relationship between high blood pressure in middle age and dementia in later life, studies that have examined this association in relatively older people have yielded inconsistent results, Shin says. The absence of increased risk in people with low BP, even in the presence of frailty, is a notable finding of the current study, since previous studies had reported a direct correlation between frailty and dementia. M.T. T. (SyM)
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