Hypertension Predicts Dementia in Seniors Losing Ability to Organize and Make Decisions

According to February’s issue of Archives of Neurology, high blood pressure appears to have a correlation to dementia in senior citizens with impaired decision making and organizational thoughts. High blood pressure maybe be a risk factor for dementia in mid-life, however there is conflicting evidence on individuals who have high blood pressure in late-life. Individuals with memory function impairment are more likely to have Alzheimer’s disease, while those with an impairment followed by a stroke or blood-vessel related problem may experience reduced executive functioning. Executive functioning refers to the mental process involved in a goal-directed activity.

A hypothesis was tested by Shahram Oveisgharan, M.D., of University of Western Ontario, Canada, and Isafahn University of Medical Sciences to see if there was a correlation between thinking, learning and memory impairment, and high blood pressure. 990 older adults (average age of 83) with cognitive impairment but no dementia were studied over a five year period. The study showed that dementia developed at the same rate among participants with and without high blood pressure, specifically 59.5% of individuals with high blood pressure v.s. 64.2% without. The study also shows that among patients with only executive dysfunction, high blood pressure was associated with a risk of developing dementia.

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