A recent study measuring changes in blood flow in the brain showed that people with high blood pressure have poorer communication between different regions of the brain than people with normal blood pressure.
The study, published Monday in the journal hypertension of the American Heart Association, found that people with altered brain connectivity experienced minor problems with memory, executive function or planning skills, suggesting a link between high blood pressure and subtle damage to the brain.
"Hypertension is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, which is well known," said the author, Dr. Giuseppe Lebo, chief researcher in the Department of vascular Cardiology, neurology and translational medicine, University of Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
According to the American Heart Association, nearly half of American adults (about 116 million) have high blood pressure. According to the Alzheimer's Association, nearly six million Americans over the age of 65 have Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia. As the population ages, the number is expected to increase to about 14 million by 2050. According to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, poor heart health, including uncontrolled high blood pressure, can lead to an increased risk of dementia.
Lorenzo Carnevale, the lead author of the study, compared brain images of 19 people with high blood pressure and 18 people with normal blood pressure. It can measure the small change of blood flow at rest. The researchers also conducted cognitive tests on participants. Compared with people with normal blood pressure, people with high blood pressure performed more slowly in cognitive tests, and their brain images showed patterns of abnormal connections.
Although the brain changes observed in this study are subtle, "we believe our findings may indicate a greater chance of developing dementia and vascular cognitive impairment," rumble said
"What's interesting about this study is that they show that the brains of people with high blood pressure work differently than those without it," said Kristine Yaffe, PhD, Professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of California, San Francisco Yaffe points out that changes in the brain precede any structural changes in the brain associated with poor cognitive ability.
Another question to be answered, Yaffe said, is whether drug control of blood pressure can prevent changes in brain function. "We need to compare people who have been treated for hypertension with people who have never been treated and people with normal blood pressure."
