High Blood Pressure May Also Alter Your Brain Circuits
MAY 2010
Two new studies point to a link between
high blood pressure and increased risk
of dementia. In one eight-year study of
1,403 women ages 65 and older, MRI scans
revealed that those with hypertension had
significantly more “white matter lesions”—
indicating weakening of the insulation
around nerve cells in the brain necessary for
communication. The higher the blood pressure,
the more serious the damage.
“This is a silent disease in the brain,”
commented lead researcher Lewis Kuller,
MD, DrPH, of the University of Pittsburgh.
“It’s evolving over time and it leads to very
bad outcomes.”
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To prevent high blood pressure, the National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends:
• Healthy eating, following a diet such as the
DASH plan. See .
• Reduce sodium to less than 2,400 milligrams
daily.
• Maintain a healthy weight. Losing even 10
pounds can lower blood pressure.
• Get 30 minutes of moderate-level physical
activity on most days of the week.
• Limit alcohol to one drink a day for women,
two for men.
• Quit smoking.
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In the second study, which tracked 983
men and women for more than 15 years,
beginning in middle age, uncontrolled high
blood pressure was similarly linked to
white-matter damage. Higher systolic blood
pressure (the top number) was associated
with more progressive damage, according to
the study led by Rebecca F. Gottesman, MD,
PhD, of Johns Hopkins University. The higher
participants’ cumulative blood pressure
over time, the greater the damage.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
will further explore these connections as
part of its SPRINT study, now enrolling
7,500 participants nationwide.
TO LEARN MORE: Journal of Clinical Hypertension,
March 2010; abstract at www3.interscience.wiley.
com/journal/123215608/abstract. Stroke, January
2010; abstract at stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/
content/abstract/41/1/3