Dementia is a term that describes memory loss and cognitive decline. More than 55 million people globally are suffering from dementia and scientists are unaware of the exact cause of the condition. One of the conditions that affects dementia is hypertension. There exists previous research which says that people with hypertension are at greater risk of developing Alzeihmer’s disease and dementia. Moreover, a recent study published in the European Heart Journal found the exact areas of the brain that may be damaged by high BP and consequently cause dementia.
Dr. Amitabha Saha, a leading hypertension specialist in Kolkata looks at the details of the hypertension-dementia link.
What is Blood Pressure and High Blood Pressure?
Blood pressure is the amount of force that the heart exerts to pump blood through the arteries. When your blood pressure is measured, you get two values, one is known as the systolic reading and the other is known as diastolic reading.
Systolic blood pressure is the measure of the heart pumping blood into the arteries and the diastolic pressure is the measure of the pressure when the heart rests between beats.
The range of normal blood pressure is 90 mmHg systolic to 120 mmHg systolic and 60 mmHg diastolic to 80 mmHg diastolic.
High blood pressure occurs when the heart must exert more force to push blood through the arteries. This can occur because of plaque that builds up within the artery walls.
What is the Dementia-hypertension Link?
With a clear understanding of what hypertension is, let’s now look at the dementia-hypertension link.
Firstly, the study reported that hypertension can severely impact the blood vessels in your brain leading to reshaping and hardening of arteries. When a patient suffers from high blood pressure, this increased pressure is transmitted to smaller blood vessels in the brain causing small vessel disease.
The in-charge of the study went on to say that high blood pressure goes on to cause neurodegeneration and inflammatory activation. These factors in turn contribute to memory loss, dementia and impairment of cognitive functions.
He also went on to say that high blood pressure can damage the white matter of the brain. Areas impacted by high blood pressure are the white matter areas, putamen, anterior thalamic radiation, anterior corona radiata, and the anterior limb of the interior capsule. These are very important parts of the brain that are responsible for decision-making, emotion management, cognitive processing, and motivation. To read the whole study you can read the European Heart Journal.
It is the opinion of this hypertension specialist that this study can be an eye-opener on the impact of high blood pressure on dementia and other cognitive impairment problems.
Conclusion
To sum up, visit this hypertension specialist to understand more about the hypertension condition. The connection between dementia and hypertension is still being studied and more conclusive proofs are required before one can say that there exists a connection between the two.