- High blood pressure is a known risk factor for developing dementia.
- Researchers recently identified the specific areas of the brain that may be damaged by high blood pressure and are linked to the development of dementia.
- Further studies may help researchers identify patients at high risk of cognitive impairment.
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While scientists are still not sure what causes dementia, they know certain conditions may impact whether a person develops dementia or not. One of these is high blood pressure.
Now, researchers from the University of Edinburgh in the U.K. and Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow, Poland, have discovered the specific areas of the brain that may be damaged by high blood pressure and are linked to the development of dementia.
The study was recently published in the European Heart Journal.
A person’s blood pressure is the amount of force the heart uses to pump blood through the arteries.
When the doctor takes your blood pressure, they get two different numbers. The top number measures the systolic pressure when the heart pumps blood out of the heart and into the arteries. The bottom number measures the diastolic pressure when the heart rests between heartbeats. Both are measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg).
For example, normal blood pressure is less than 120mmHg systolic pressure and less than 80mmHg diastolic pressure (but more than 90mmHg systolic and 60mmHg diastolic).
When the systolic pressure creeps into the 130s and diastolic pressure into the 80s, that is considered the start of high blood pressure. Anything over 140mmHg systolic pressure and 90mmHg or higher diastolic pressure is stage 2 high blood pressure.
High blood pressure — clinically known as hypertension…
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