A new study has found that people aged 60 and older who have untreated high blood pressure may be at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than people who have been or are being treated for high blood pressure and compared to people who do not have the chronic condition.
high blood pressure
High blood pressure is a condition in which the blood pressure in the blood vessels is so high that it can cause health problems in the body, such as heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes. It is considered one of the most important health risks worldwide, and is called the “silent killer” because the patient may have it for years without knowing it, and it is not discovered until permanent damage has occurred to the body.
The new research was published August 14, 2024, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The findings do not prove that untreated high blood pressure causes Alzheimer’s disease, but they only show an association.
“High blood pressure is a major cause of stroke and cerebrovascular disease, yet it can be controlled with medication, which reduces the risk of these diseases,” said lead author Dr. Matthew J. Lennon, MD, of the University of New South Wales in Australia. “Previous research has also found that taking blood pressure medication reduces the risk of dementia overall, but what is less clear is the effect of blood pressure on the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. We conducted our meta-analysis in older adults and found that untreated blood pressure may actually increase a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”
In this comprehensive analysis, researchers studied data from 31,250 people with an average age of 72 who were enrolled in 14 studies that measured cognitive changes and dementia diagnoses over time.
Participants were from Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Korea, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. Participants were followed for an average of 4 years and 1,415 developed Alzheimer’s disease.
Study results
The researchers analyzed blood pressure measurements, diagnosed hypertension, and used blood pressure medications for each participant. They found that 9% of participants had untreated hypertension, 51% were taking blood pressure medications, 36% did not have hypertension, and 4% had unclear status.
After adjusting for factors such as age, sex and education, the researchers found that people with untreated high blood pressure had a 36% higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than people without high blood pressure, and a 42% higher risk of developing the disease than people who had high blood pressure but were taking blood pressure medication.
“Our comprehensive analysis of people from around the world found that taking blood pressure medication was associated with a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease over the course of a lifetime,” Lennon said, according to EurekAlert. “These findings suggest that treating high blood pressure as a person ages remains an important factor in reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”