The raised blood pressure of hypertension is damaging to sensitive tissues throughout the body, but particularly the brain. Alongside many other issues in the health and function of the vascular system, hypertension increases the pace of rupture of tiny blood vessels in the brain, each such event destroying a small volume of brain tissue. Over time this adds up to degrade cognitive function and contribute to the development of outright dementia. Thus high blood pressure is harmful, and the longer the period of time in which blood pressure is elevated, the more harm is done. Here, researchers assess cumulative blood pressure over time and find a correlation between high, sustained blood pressure and a large increase in the risk of dementia.
Cumulative blood pressure (BP), which takes into account both the magnitude and duration of BP exposure, is linked to cognitive impairment. The Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) over 16 years was divided into two consecutive sub-cohorts, namely the 2002 sub-cohort from 2002 to 2011 and the 2008 sub-cohort from 2008 to 2018. Cumulative BP exposures were calculated as the area under the curve derived from two consequence BP measurements and their corresponding time intervals.
A total of 2,142 and 1,920 cognitively healthy older adults participants from the two sub-cohorts were included in the analysis, respectively. Over a median follow-up of 6.2 years and 7.0 years, 542 and 347 older adults experienced cognitive impairment in the two sub-cohorts, respectively. Higher cumulative systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and pulse pressure (PP) were significantly associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment. Compared to the lowest quartile in the two sub-cohorts, the hazard ratios for cognitive impairment risk in the highest quartile were 1.85 and 2.64 for cumulative SBP, 2.00 and 2.20 for cumulative DBP, and 1.59 and 2.10 for cumulative PP, respectively.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-025-06465-9
View the full article at FightAging
