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High Blood Pressure May Not Be All Bad in Elderly
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Jan. 17, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Creating higher blood stress in really old age could give some protection from dementia, a new study suggests.
In middle age, higher blood stress — also named hypertension — boosts dementia danger later in life, mentioned study lead researcher Maria Corrada. It also raises your threat for heart attack and stroke.
But its onset in the eighth or ninth decade of life was linked to lower danger of mental decline in one’s 90s, her group discovered.
“Hypertension in the very old is not detrimental for mental overall health,” mentioned Corrada, a professor of neurology and epidemiology at the University of California, Irvine.
Many aspects may support clarify the apparent association among late-life higher blood stress and reduced dementia threat, Corrada mentioned.
For a single, as men and women age, blood pressure could want to boost to keep blood flowing to the brain for typical functioning.
“It is a matter of producing sufficient pressure to get blood to oxygenate the brain adequately,” Corrada stated.
The researchers said it’s also feasible, but less most likely, that blood pressure drops as dementia starts due to the deterioration of brain cells. This could mean that elderly individuals who don’t develop dementia will have larger blood pressure.
High blood pressure in the extremely old may well have other advantages, Corrada mentioned. “There is evidence that higher blood stress may possibly also lessen frailty and disability,” she mentioned.
It really is clear that age matters, Corrada mentioned, despite the fact that the study did not prove a trigger-and-effect link between high blood stress and decreased dementia risk.
“What ever we know and understand about the well being of the younger elderly does not necessarily apply to the health of the ‘oldest old’ — the quickest-growing segment of the population,” she stated.
To avert a public well being epidemic of dementia, it’s essential to realize how risk for mental decline might adjust over time, the researchers and other folks said.
High blood stress may require to be divided into at least two classes, stated Dr. Sam Gandy, a New York City brain specialist.
“We usually think of the young adult onset type, which if untreated can harm heart, kidney, eye and brain blood vessels,” said Gandy, director of the Center for Cognitive Wellness at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Continued
A second class may possibly be late-life hypertension, which is driven by a brain in “distress,” he mentioned.
“This distressed brain, through neurological mechanisms, could be causing blood pressure to rise in an try to boost blood flow and relieve the distress,” Gandy explained.
The new findings may possibly clarify why treating late-life hypertension has lately failed to lessen dementia, added Gandy.
For the study, Corrada and her colleagues followed 559 folks aged 90 and older for practically 3 years. The participants were cost-free from dementia at the start of the study.
The researchers checked blood pressure history and assessed the participants for dementia each six months for the duration of the course of the study. For the duration of adhere to-up, 40 % developed dementia.
Higher blood stress was defined as a systolic pressure of 140 mm Hg or greater and a diastolic stress of 90 mm Hg or more, Corrada stated. Systolic pressure is the 1st number in a blood stress reading.
The researchers located that these who developed higher blood stress soon after age 80 had been 42 percent much less most likely to develop dementia in their 90s compared to these with regular blood stress. And, those whose higher blood stress started soon after age 90 have been 63 percent less probably to develop dementia versus those without having hypertension.
The hyperlink remained even if individuals were taking blood stress-lowering medicines, according to the study.
These findings echo other seemingly inconsistent findings about the threat for dementia. For instance, two studies have shown that folks who are overweight at 75 or beyond have a decrease danger for mental dysfunction, Corrada mentioned.
It is not fully understood why higher blood stress and heaviness may well turn into protective in old age, mentioned Heather Snyder, director of health-related and scientific operations at the Alzheimer’s Association.
“We need to much better comprehend the connection amongst the cardiovascular method and our brains,” Snyder said.
In the meantime, do what you can to maintain very good heart overall health as you age, she added.
The report was published on-line Jan. 17 in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia
http://ahealthyhobby.com/high-blood-pressure-may-not-be-all-bad-in-elderly/
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Jan. 17, 2017 (HealthDay News) — Creating higher blood stress in really old age could give some protection from dementia, a new study suggests.
In middle age, higher blood stress — also named hypertension — boosts dementia danger later in life, mentioned study lead researcher Maria Corrada. It also raises your threat for heart attack and stroke.
But its onset in the eighth or ninth decade of life was linked to lower danger of mental decline in one’s 90s, her group discovered.
“Hypertension in the very old is not detrimental for mental overall health,” mentioned Corrada, a professor of neurology and epidemiology at the University of California, Irvine.
Many aspects may support clarify the apparent association among late-life higher blood stress and reduced dementia threat, Corrada mentioned.
For a single, as men and women age, blood pressure could want to boost to keep blood flowing to the brain for typical functioning.
“It is a matter of producing sufficient pressure to get blood to oxygenate the brain adequately,” Corrada stated.
The researchers said it’s also feasible, but less most likely, that blood pressure drops as dementia starts due to the deterioration of brain cells. This could mean that elderly individuals who don’t develop dementia will have larger blood pressure.
High blood pressure in the extremely old may well have other advantages, Corrada mentioned. “There is evidence that higher blood stress may possibly also lessen frailty and disability,” she mentioned.
It really is clear that age matters, Corrada mentioned, despite the fact that the study did not prove a trigger-and-effect link between high blood stress and decreased dementia risk.
“What ever we know and understand about the well being of the younger elderly does not necessarily apply to the health of the ‘oldest old’ — the quickest-growing segment of the population,” she stated.
To avert a public well being epidemic of dementia, it’s essential to realize how risk for mental decline might adjust over time, the researchers and other folks said.
High blood stress may require to be divided into at least two classes, stated Dr. Sam Gandy, a New York City brain specialist.
“We usually think of the young adult onset type, which if untreated can harm heart, kidney, eye and brain blood vessels,” said Gandy, director of the Center for Cognitive Wellness at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Continued
A second class may possibly be late-life hypertension, which is driven by a brain in “distress,” he mentioned.
“This distressed brain, through neurological mechanisms, could be causing blood pressure to rise in an try to boost blood flow and relieve the distress,” Gandy explained.
The new findings may possibly clarify why treating late-life hypertension has lately failed to lessen dementia, added Gandy.
For the study, Corrada and her colleagues followed 559 folks aged 90 and older for practically 3 years. The participants were cost-free from dementia at the start of the study.
The researchers checked blood pressure history and assessed the participants for dementia each six months for the duration of the course of the study. For the duration of adhere to-up, 40 % developed dementia.
Higher blood stress was defined as a systolic pressure of 140 mm Hg or greater and a diastolic stress of 90 mm Hg or more, Corrada stated. Systolic pressure is the 1st number in a blood stress reading.
The researchers located that these who developed higher blood stress soon after age 80 had been 42 percent much less most likely to develop dementia in their 90s compared to these with regular blood stress. And, those whose higher blood stress started soon after age 90 have been 63 percent less probably to develop dementia versus those without having hypertension.
The hyperlink remained even if individuals were taking blood stress-lowering medicines, according to the study.
These findings echo other seemingly inconsistent findings about the threat for dementia. For instance, two studies have shown that folks who are overweight at 75 or beyond have a decrease danger for mental dysfunction, Corrada mentioned.
It is not fully understood why higher blood stress and heaviness may well turn into protective in old age, mentioned Heather Snyder, director of health-related and scientific operations at the Alzheimer’s Association.
“We need to much better comprehend the connection amongst the cardiovascular method and our brains,” Snyder said.
In the meantime, do what you can to maintain very good heart overall health as you age, she added.
The report was published on-line Jan. 17 in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia
http://ahealthyhobby.com/high-blood-pressure-may-not-be-all-bad-in-elderly/
