Lowering High Blood Pressure Can Reverse Some Dementia in the Elderly
Lowering High Blood Pressure Can Reverse Some Dementia in the Elderly
May 18, 2001 (San Francisco) -- Three years ago Charles Vincentwas overweight and had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Worse, he washaving trouble with his memory, having one too many "Alzheimer'smoments."
Today, his blood pressure is a healthy 130/75, he is 20 poundslighter, and his cholesterol is fine, even by the new stricter standards issuedthis week. Most of all, "I may not be as sharp as I was when I was 20, butI can do math faster than most 20-year-olds."
And just two days ago Vincent celebrated his 83rd birthday.
The difference between 1999 and this year can be explained byhis blood pressure, says Edwin Jacobson, MD. Jacobson says that about 40% ofdementia symptoms are caused not by Alzheimer's disease but by high bloodpressure, a condition called vascular dementia.
Jacobson, a clinical professor of medicine at UCLA school ofmedicine, says that in a study of 66 patients with high blood pressure as wellas mild dementia symptoms, controlling blood pressure meant that"progression of dementia was stopped and some effects of cognitiveimpairment were reversed." He presented his findings here this week at the16th Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension.
Vincent, a retired business executive, tells WebMD that just ayear ago his blood pressure was 160/90, not considered dangerously high"but high enough to affect my memory and ability to think clearly."
Jacobson says that a magnetic resonance scan of Vincent's brainconfirmed that Vincent's brain had many small white scars, the type of damagethat is associated with tiny, silent strokes. These silent strokes are"markers for vascular dementia," says Jacobson.
Jacobson says that many researchers have described the linkbetween high blood pressure and dementia, but no one has attempted to reversethe dementia by controlling blood pressure.
In his study, 24 women and 42 men, aged 65 to 80, with highblood pressure and vascular dementia (as confirmed by magnetic resonancescans), were randomly chosen to take one of two different types of bloodpressure medications. One drug, Vasotec, is what's called an ACE inhibitor, andthe other drug, Plendil, is what's known as a calcium channel blocker.AstraZeneca, maker of Plendil, funded the study.
Lowering High Blood Pressure Can Reverse Some Dementia in the Elderly
May 18, 2001 (San Francisco) -- Three years ago Charles Vincentwas overweight and had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Worse, he washaving trouble with his memory, having one too many "Alzheimer'smoments."
Today, his blood pressure is a healthy 130/75, he is 20 poundslighter, and his cholesterol is fine, even by the new stricter standards issuedthis week. Most of all, "I may not be as sharp as I was when I was 20, butI can do math faster than most 20-year-olds."
And just two days ago Vincent celebrated his 83rd birthday.
The difference between 1999 and this year can be explained byhis blood pressure, says Edwin Jacobson, MD. Jacobson says that about 40% ofdementia symptoms are caused not by Alzheimer's disease but by high bloodpressure, a condition called vascular dementia.
Jacobson, a clinical professor of medicine at UCLA school ofmedicine, says that in a study of 66 patients with high blood pressure as wellas mild dementia symptoms, controlling blood pressure meant that"progression of dementia was stopped and some effects of cognitiveimpairment were reversed." He presented his findings here this week at the16th Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension.
Vincent, a retired business executive, tells WebMD that just ayear ago his blood pressure was 160/90, not considered dangerously high"but high enough to affect my memory and ability to think clearly."
Jacobson says that a magnetic resonance scan of Vincent's brainconfirmed that Vincent's brain had many small white scars, the type of damagethat is associated with tiny, silent strokes. These silent strokes are"markers for vascular dementia," says Jacobson.
Jacobson says that many researchers have described the linkbetween high blood pressure and dementia, but no one has attempted to reversethe dementia by controlling blood pressure.
In his study, 24 women and 42 men, aged 65 to 80, with highblood pressure and vascular dementia (as confirmed by magnetic resonancescans), were randomly chosen to take one of two different types of bloodpressure medications. One drug, Vasotec, is what's called an ACE inhibitor, andthe other drug, Plendil, is what's known as a calcium channel blocker.AstraZeneca, maker of Plendil, funded the study.
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