Psychiatric News (9/26) reported a study found that “older adults who took medications to treat hypertension had slower cognitive decline compared with their peers who did not take such medications.” The researchers “combined data from three studies that included 3,361 participants who were taking antihypertensives at baseline and 586 participants who never took these medications.” They observed that “participants using antihypertensives had higher levels of global cognition at baseline and a slower rate of cognitive decline over follow-up compared with non-users – especially in the domains of episodic and semantic memory.” Meanwhile, brain autopsy results “showed that taking antihypertensives was associated with a lower tau tangle density (a marker of Alzheimer’s disease) but not with other neurodegenerative or cerebrovascular pathologies.” The study was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
Related Links:
— “Antihypertensive Drugs Associated With Slower Cognitive Decline, Psychiatric News , September 26, 2025