HealthDay (8/21, Reinberg) reports that research published in JAMA Neurology suggests “for seniors, and particularly” black patients, with hypertension, “lowering it may help keep their minds sharp.”
MedPage Today (8/21, Bacher) reports that during “a 10-year period, the greatest decline in cognitive status was seen in people with” systolic blood pressure (SBP) “levels of 150 mm Hg or higher.” Comparatively, “the least cognitive decline occurred in those with SBP levels of 120 mm Hg or lower.”
Healio (8/21) reports that the investigators “found that when compared with white patients, black patients had a greater difference in cognition between the higher and lower systolic BP levels: adjusted differences between the group with levels of 150 mm Hg or higher and the group with levels of 120 mm Hg or lower were –0.05 in white patients and –0.08 in black patients for Modified Mini-Mental State Examinations…and –0.07 in white patients and –0.13 in black patients for the Digit Symbol Substitution Test.” Data from “1,657 cognitively intact older adults” were used in the study.
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— “Lower Blood Pressure Best for Seniors’ Minds,” Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, August 21, 2017.