Researchers have discovered that short-term changes in blood pressure are linked to cognitive disability and increased vascular issues in older grownups. These fluctuations, neglected in clinical treatments focusing on high blood pressure, also correlate with arterial stiffness. The findings suggest that keeping an eye on high blood pressure variability could work as an early marker or intervention point for avoiding dementia, even in people without noticeable cognitive decrease.
A recent research study from University of South Australia (UniSA) researchers shows that variations in blood pressure, both within a day and over extended durations, can raise the risk of dementia and vascular issues in the senior. This change in high blood pressure is related to cognitive decline.
Greater systolic BP variations (the leading number that measures the pressure in arteries when a heart beats) are likewise connected with stiffening of the arteries, related to heart problem.
The findings have been published in the journal Cerebral Circulation– Cognition and Behavior.
Understanding Blood Pressure Variability
Lead author Daria Gutteridge, a Ph.D. candidate based in UniSAs Cognitive Ageing and Impairment Neuroscience Laboratory (CAIN), says its popular that high blood pressure is a risk element for dementia, but little attention is paid to changing high blood pressure.
” Clinical treatments focus on hypertension while disregarding the variability of high blood pressure,” Gutteridge says.
” Blood pressure can vary across various amount of time– brief and long– and this appears to heighten the danger of dementia and blood vessel health.”
Research Study Methodology and Findings
To assist explore the mechanisms that link BP fluctuations with dementia, UniSA scientists recruited 70 healthy older grownups aged 60-80 years, without any indications of dementia or cognitive disability.
Their high blood pressure was kept track of, they completed a cognitive test, and their arterial tightness in the brain and arteries was measured using transcranial doppler sonography and pulse wave analysis.
” We found that higher high blood pressure irregularity within a day, along with across days, was related to minimized cognitive performance. We also discovered that greater high blood pressure variations within the systolic BP were related to higher blood vessel tightness in the arteries.
” These results suggest that the various kinds of BP irregularity likely reflect different underlying biological systems, which diastolic and systolic high blood pressure variation are both important for cognitive working in older adults.”
The links existed in older adults without any medically relevant cognitive impairment, indicating that BP irregularity could possibly work as an early clinical marker or treatment target for cognitive impairment, the scientists state.
Referral: “Cross-sectional associations between short and mid-term blood pressure variability, cognition, and vascular tightness in older adults” by D.S. Gutteridge, P.J. Tully, A.E. Smith, T. Loetscher and H.A. Keage, 1 September 2023, Cerebral Circulation– Cognition and Behavior.DOI: 10.1016/ j.cccb.2023.100181.
Researchers have discovered that short-term fluctuations in blood pressure are connected to cognitive problems and increased vascular problems in older grownups. These changes, neglected in clinical treatments focusing on hypertension, likewise correlate with arterial stiffness. The findings suggest that keeping an eye on blood pressure irregularity could serve as an early marker or intervention point for avoiding dementia, even in people without obvious cognitive decrease.