Hypertension may predict dementia in older adults with particular cognitive deficits

February, 2010

A large five-year study concludes that late-life hypertension doubles the risk of dementia in those with executive dysfunction only (but not for those with memory dysfunction alone or memory and executive dysfunction).

Midlife hypertension has been confirmed as a risk factor for the development of dementia in late life, but there have been conflicting findings about the role of late-life hypertension. Now a five-year study involving 990 older adults (average age 83) with cognitive impairment but no dementia, has found that dementia developed at around the same rate among participants with and without hypertension, among those with memory dysfunction alone and those with both memory and executive dysfunction. However, among patients with executive dysfunction only, presence of hypertension was associated with double the risk of developing dementia (57.7 percent of those with high blood pressure progressed to dementia, vs. 28 percent of those without). The findings suggest that efforts to control to hypertension should be especially targeted to this group.

Reference: 

Related News

While everyone agrees that amyloid-beta protein is part of the problem, not everyone agrees that amyloid plaques are the cause (or one of them) of Alzheimer’s. Other forms of amyloid-beta have been pointed to, including floating clumps called oligomers or ADDLs.

A few months ago, I reported on an exciting finding that

The American Academy of Neurology has updated its guidelines on when people with dementia should stop driving.

Another gene has been identified that appears to increase risk of Alzheimer’s. The gene, MTHFD1L, is located on chromosome six.

Previous research has found that unexplained weight loss is an early sign of Alzheimer's.

Amnestic mild cognitive impairment often leads to Alzheimer's disease, but what predicts aMCI?

A pilot study involving 21 institutionalized individuals with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s found that, although drinking two 4-oz glasses of apple juice daily for a month produced no change in the Dementia Rating Scale or in the Activities of Daily Living measure, there was a significant (27%)

A pilot study involving 10 patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease, of whom half were randomly assigned to the treatment, has found that two weeks of receiving daily (25 minute) periods of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to the prefrontal

A study involving outpatients with early stage Alzheimer’s found that their performance on some computerized tests of executive function and visual attention, including a simulated driving task, improved significantly after three months of taking

A study involving 54 older adults (66-76) and 58 younger adults (18-35) challenges the idea that age itself causes people to become more risk-averse and to make poorer decisions.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.