Johns Hopkins Health Alert
Controlling Blood Pressure May Forestall Dementia
Hypertension is more treatable than ever before, thanks to a wide variety of lifestyle measures and blood pressure medications. When effective, these treatments can not only lower blood pressure, but also reduce the risk of complications from high blood pressure -- specifically, stroke, heart attack, heart failure, and kidney disease.
Now there's another important reason to take your blood pressure medication. Researchers have found that keeping blood pressure in check with medication may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. A pair of studies found that older adults on blood pressure drugs were less likely to develop dementia than those with untreated high blood pressure.
The first study, of nearly 1,300 men followed since the 1960s, found that the longer the men were on blood pressure medication, the lower their dementia risk. Those who were treated for more than 12 years were 60–65% less likely to develop dementia, including Alzheimer’s, than those who never had their high blood pressure treated.
The second study, which followed about 5,100 adults age 65 and older, found that those who were using blood pressure medication at the outset were about one third less likely to develop Alzheimer’s over the next three years. Potassium-sparing diuretics -- which allow the kidneys to excrete water and sodium without depleting potassium -- seemed particularly protective.
Over time, high blood pressure can damage blood vessels leading to the brain, which may explain why treatment is linked to a lower dementia risk. It’s not clear why potassium-sparing diuretics appear especially protective. The study was reported in the journal Stroke (Volume 37, page 1165) and in the Archives of Neurology (Volume 63, page 686).
Posted in Hypertension and Stroke on July 8, 2008
Reviewed September 2011
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Here's another way to prevent high blood pressure and Alzheimer's, and many other maladies - make sure that you don't have sleep apnea. The connection of high blood pressure with sleepp apnea has been well established for several years. The studies are closing in on proving the connection with Alzheimer's. The high associativity was shown years ago, both are predisposed by the same APOE epsilon 4 genetic variant, and chronic intermittent hypoxia (reduction of oxygen as occurs in sleep apnea) in laboratory rats has led to their internal generation of beta-amyloid proteins that lead to Alzheimer's and causes the peculiar deterioration of brain tissue that is the definitive evidence of Alzheimer's.
Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people with sleep apnea don't know that they have it because their doctor's have never thought to test them for it.
Posted by: Burt Abrams | July 12, 2008 6:12 AM
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Thanks for this article. After reading it today, I can believe this happens. My mother-in-law is 105 and has been on high blood pressure meds for many years, and you would not believe how well she is in her mind and showing no signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s. She is an amazing woman and so wonderful to talk with. She has never had any kind of heart attack or stroke.
Posted by: cabmom | July 8, 2008 9:39 AM