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People with high blood pressure in their 30s and 40s have a higher risk of dementia later in life – and smaller brains, study finds.
Research on over 250,000 Britons found that people with hypertension between the ages of 35 and 44 had a 61% higher risk of developing memory impairment later in life.
Doctors said their results highlight the potential benefit of helping young people control their blood pressure by reducing their risk of dementia.
An international team of researchers, including academics from Australia and China, examined health records collected for more than a decade.
The results are the most recent of a number of studies that have linked high blood pressure in midlife to dementia in the elderly.
Vascular dementia, the second most common form, is caused by decreased blood flow to the brain, which robs cells of oxygen and vital nutrients.
High blood pressure is believed to constrict vital arteries and accelerate this process.
The findings are expected to worry the millions of adults under 65 living with hypertension in the UK.
In 2019, the British Heart Foundation estimated that 4 million Britons in this age group had undiagnosed high blood pressure, including 1.3 million under the age of 45.
Researchers found that people diagnosed with high blood pressure in their 30s and 40s had a higher risk of developing dementia later in life
High blood pressure is known as the “silent killer” and comes with potentially fatal health risks, such as heart attacks and strokes.
Factors such as obesity, excessive salt intake, smoking and alcohol, lack of sleep, being of black African or black Caribbean descent are thought to increase the risk of developing the disease.
High-salt diet may disrupt your body clock and lead to premature death, study finds
A diet high in salt could disrupt sleep patterns and long-term health, suggests a US study in mice.
Diets high in salt may increase blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart disease and stroke
New research by scientists at the University of Alabama suggests that it may also disrupt the body’s natural 24-hour cycle, known as the circadian rhythm.
UJS researchers have found that a diet high in salt disrupts the internal body clock in mice, and their findings may have implications for humans.
According to the researchers, the disruption of the body’s circadian rhythm has various negative effects on people’s health, including their risk of developing mood disorders, cancer and even premature death.
Scientists fed the mice a high-salt diet, then measured their movements and brain activity throughout the day.
They found that even though mice on a high salt diet didn’t get more or less activity, they didn’t get the same sleep pattern as normal mice.
The researchers found that the salt-rich mice had increased brain activity at night compared to the control group, disrupting their internal body clocks.
“Neuronal excitability at night could lead to a decline or mis-timing of sleep-wake, hormonal, and physiological rhythms,” the researchers wrote.
Researchers said that about 90% of the American population over the age of 2 has too much salt in their diet.
The NHS advises adults to eat no more than 6g of salt per day (2.4g of sodium), or about 1 teaspoon.
A UK government report released in 2020 found that 69% of adults in England exceed the recommended daily amount of salt.
The researchers presented their findings today at the Seventeenth International Endothelin Conference (ET-17).
The researchers compared health data from 124,053 UK adults with high blood pressure and 124,053 without conditions.
Doctors then followed patients’ medical histories for up to 14 years and found 4,626 had developed some form of dementia.
They found that people diagnosed with high blood pressure between the ages of 35 and 44 were 61% more likely to develop dementia a decade later than people without blood pressure.
The risk of vascular dementia, a type of dementia caused by impaired blood flow to parts of the brain, was 69%. more likely for people diagnosed with high blood pressure between the ages of 35 and 44, compared to those who do not.
People diagnosed with high blood pressure between the ages of 45 and 54 had a 45% lower, but nonetheless significant risk of vascular dementia compared to their healthy counterparts.
Doctors too compared MRI scans of the brains of 11,399 Britons diagnosed with hypertension with scans of 11,399 Britons without high blood pressure.
These people were between 35-44 and 45-54 years old at the time of analysis.
Doctors found that people who were diagnosed with high blood pressure had a smaller total brain volume than people without high blood pressure.
This decrease in brain volume was worse in people who were diagnosed with high blood pressure before the age of 35.
The authors of the study believe that high blood pressure can lead to a decrease in brain size and that this change in structure is linked to dementia.
However, they added that more research needed to be done to measure this trend in individuals over time, rather than just a single analysis.
Dr Xianwen Shang of Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital in Guangzhou, China, said, “The results of our study provide evidence to suggest that an early age at onset of hypertension is associated with the onset of hypertension. dementia and, more importantly, this association is supported by structural changes in brain volume, ”he said.
He added that helping people fight high blood pressure early in life could save them a devastating diagnosis of dementia later in life.
“The findings raise the possibility that better prevention and control of high blood pressure in early adulthood could help prevent dementia,” he said.
Another contributor to the study, Dr Mingguang He, professor of ophthalmic epidemiology at the University of Melbourne, said that a high blood pressure screening program may be of benefit in preventing dementia.
“An active screening program to identify people with early hypertension and provide earlier, more intensive treatment for hypertension could help reduce the risk of developing dementia in the future,” he said.
Researchers now plan to explore further whether dementia diagnoses were preceded by conditions such as diabetes or stroke in people who developed high blood pressure in adulthood or middle age. .
Their latest findings have been published in the journal Hypertension.
WHAT IS DEMENTIA? THE MORAL ILLNESS THAT STEALS THE SUFFERING OF THEIR MEMORIES
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of neurological disorders
A GLOBAL CONCERN
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of progressive neurological disorders (those that affect the brain) that impact memory, thinking, and behavior.
There are many types of dementia, of which Alzheimer’s disease is the most common.
Some people can have a combination of types of dementia.
Regardless of the type diagnosed, each person will experience their dementia in their own way.
Dementia is a global concern, but it is most often seen in wealthier countries, where people are likely to live to very old age.
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE AFFECTED?
The Alzheimer Society reports that there are more than 850,000 people with dementia in the UK today, of which over 500,000 have Alzheimer’s disease.
It is estimated that the number of people with dementia in the UK by 2025 will reach over one million.
In the United States, it is estimated that there are 5.5 million people with Alzheimer’s disease. A similar percentage increase is expected in the coming years.
As a person’s age increases, the risk of developing dementia also increases.
Diagnosis rates are improving, but it is believed that many people with dementia still go undiagnosed.
IS THERE A HEALING?
There is currently no cure for dementia.
But new drugs can slow its progression and the earlier it is detected, the more effective the treatments.
Source: Alzheimer Society
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