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The study, published in the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, involved 11,709 people with an average age of 54 years who were followed for 25 years on average.
Participants met with researchers up to five times during the course of the study. None had a history of heart disease or stroke at the beginning of the study.
"Orthostatic hypotension has been associated with heart disease, fainting and falls, so we wanted to conduct a large study to determine if this form of hypotension was also related to brain problems, especially dementia, "said Andreea Rawlings. , from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States.
For the study, resting blood pressure was defined as a fall of at least 20 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) in systolic blood pressure, which is the pressure in the blood vessels when the heart beats, or at least 10 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure, the pressure when the heart is at rest. Normal blood pressure is less than 120/80 mmHg.
They monitored the participants throughout the study for dementia and stroke with study visits and by examining the medical records. During the study, 1,068 people developed dementia and 842 had ischemic stroke, a stroke where blood flow is blocked in one part of the brain.
The researchers found that those who suffered from orthostatic hypotension at the start of the study were 54% more likely to develop dementia than those who did not have orthostatic hypotension at the beginning of the study.
A total of 999 of 11,156 without orthostatic hypotension, or 9%, developed dementia, compared with 69 of 552 people with orthostatic hypotension, or 12.5%.
In addition, those with orthostatic hypotension had twice the risk of ischemic stroke. In total, 15.2%, or 84 of 552 people with orthostatic hypotension, had ischemic stroke, compared to 6.8%, or 758 of 11,157 people without orthostatic hypotension.
There was no association with bleeding strokes.
"The measurement of orthostatic hypotension in middle-aged people might be a new way to identify people who need to be closely monitored for dementia or stroke. brain, "said Rawlings.
"More studies are needed to clarify what may be behind these links, as well as to explore possible prevention strategies," she said.
