Lower Blood Pressure Might Reduce Dementia Risk

A meta-analysis of individual participant data from eligible observational studies suggested that use of any antihypertensive medications (AHM) with efficacy to lower blood pressure (BP) might reduce the risk for dementia among people with high BP. However, no evidence was found that a specific AHM drug class was more effective than others in lowering risk of dementia. The analysis included 6 prospective community-based studies (n=31 090 well phenotyped dementia-free adults > 55 years) with median follow-ups across cohorts of 7–22 years. There were 3728 incident cases of dementia and 1741 incident Alzheimer’s disease diagnoses. In the high BP stratum (n=15 537, systolic BP ≥140 mm Hg or diastolic BP ≥90 mm Hg), those using any AHM had a reduced risk for developing dementia (hazard ratio [HR] 0·88) and Alzheimer’s disease (HR 0·84) compared with those not using AHM. There was no significant differences between one drug class versus all others on risk of dementia. In the normal BP stratum (n=15 553), there was no association between AHM use and incident dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. The findings are consistent with previous and parallel studies and suggest that the beneficial effect of AHM on the risk for dementia should be considered for high BP management. Source: https://www.thelancet.com/