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ABSTRACT: Background
Increasing evidence suggests that hypertension is a risk factor for cognitive impairment and dementia. The relationship between blood pressure and cognition in a racially and ethnically diverse population remains unclear.Objective
To study association of blood pressure with cognition cross-sectionally and longitudinally in the elderly.Methods
Participants are stroke-free individuals from the racially and ethnically diverse Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS) (n = 1215). General linear models are constructed to examine blood pressure in relation to cognition cross-sectionally and longitudinally at a five-year follow-up.Results
We found a cross-sectional association of systolic blood pressure (SBP) with word fluency/semantic memory, executive function, and processing speed/visual motor integration (VMI) function. This association was independent of demographics, vascular risk factors, white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV), and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT). The cross-sectional association of SBP with processing speed/VMI and executive function was attenuated after adjusting anti-hypertension medications in the models. Baseline SBP was associated with the change of processing speed/VMI function after adjusting vascular risk factors, WMHV, and cIMT at a 5-year follow-up. This longitudinal association was not found after adjusting anti-hypertension medications in the models. Further analyses revealed that individuals with category SBP from < 120 mmHg to≥140 mmHg had a linear decline in processing speed/VMI function at a 5-year follow-up.Conclusion
We show that SBP is negatively associated with cognition cross-sectionally and longitudinally in the elderly. Anti-hypertension treatment eliminates the negative association of SBP with processing speed/VMI function longitudinally. Our findings support the treatment of stage 1 systolic hypertension in the elderly.
SUBMITTER: Sun X
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8568019 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature