"High Blood Pressure In Your 50s May Set Stage For Dementia" - Dennis Thompson
Elevated blood pressure in your 50s might raise your risk of developing dementia later in life, a new European study has found. People with a systolic blood pressure of 130 or more at age 50 were 45 percent more likely to be struck by dementia than people with lower blood pressure at the same age, researchers reported. Sam Gandy, MD, PhD, professor of neurology, psychiatry and associate director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said there could be a point in the person’s life at which it’s too late to use high blood pressure as a mean of warding off dementia. The fact that no increased risk was found in people at 60 and 70 in this study is consistent with a paper released last year showing that higher blood pressure late in life can actually be protective against dementia, Dr. Gandy noted. Severe high blood pressure in the elderly should be treated, but doctors must approach such blood pressure control with a light touch, Dr. Gandy said.
- Samuel Gandy, MD, PhD, Professor, Neurology, Psychiatry, Associate Director, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, The Mount Sinai Center for Cognitive Health and NFL Neurological Care
Additional coverage:
U.S. News & World Report
Newsmax Health
Healthy Women
Doctors Lounge