“The Link Between High Blood Pressure and Non-Alzheimer’s Dementia: Study Shows Medical Interventions Can Reduce Risk”

[VoiceofHopeApril192023](Editor: Li Wenhan) When it comes to dementia, most people will think of Alzheimer, but in fact, other factors such as high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease can lead to dementia. Foreign studies have pointed out that cardiovascular disease may cause brain cells to lose function or even die, thereby reducing the number of brain cells and causing dementia. If high blood pressure is well controlled, it may be possible to reduce non-Alzheimer’s dementia. The study was published in February in the Alzheimer’s Association journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

“Liberty Times” reported that Xie Anmin, former director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit of Chicago Veterans Hospital in the United States, shared an article on Facebook “Dr. The link between hypertension and dementia. The study found that the proportion of patients with dementia caused by high blood pressure varies with age and is also affected by the age of onset of dementia.

Xie Anmin pointed out that the study has 32 years of follow-up data, and concluded that 15-20% of dementia patients aged 80-90 can be attributed to abnormal blood pressure between the ages of 45-75. The authors of the report suggest that medical interventions aimed at controlling blood pressure may reduce dementia by a significant proportion.

Xie Anmin said that brain cell hypoxia, ischemia, or trauma, including Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, etc., will damage brain cells, causing them to lose function or even die. Although there are many brain cells in humans (the adult brain is about 1.5 kg and has about 86 billion nerve cells), after the growth is complete, the brain cells will basically not proliferate. No matter what the reason is, the number of brain cells decreases, and if the number of brain cells shrinks to a certain extent, there will be dementia.

Xie Anmin shared that “Nun’s Aging and Alzheimer’s Research” is an ongoing comprehensive research that can help to better understand the relationship between aging, stroke (cardiovascular disease), Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. relation. A group of nuns began to participate in the study in 1986. They received regular medical tests and assessments of cognitive function, and agreed to undergo pathological autopsy after death. The study has made several findings:

1. The better the brain function at a young age, the lower the risk of dementia later in life.

Most of these nuns took the oath to become nuns when they were in their teens or early 20s, and the autobiographies written before the oath were all preserved as research materials. These autobiographies show that nuns with the ability to use complex language mostly maintain cognitive function and are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

2. The presence or absence of dementia before death does not entirely depend on the pathological changes of Alzheimer’s disease. The presence or absence of stroke is another determining factor.

Although some nuns had obvious pathological lesions of Alzheimer’s in autopsy after death, they had no clinical manifestations of dementia during their lifetime. One of the characteristics of them is that they did not have any obvious stroke. In addition, some nuns were previously diagnosed with dementia, but autopsy revealed that, in addition to Alzheimer’s lesions (some of which were not serious), there were significant lesions of small strokes (lacuna infarction).

Xie Anmin said that patients with Alzheimer’s may have cardiovascular disease, and patients with cardiovascular disease may also have Alzheimer’s. Therefore, clinically, in patients with dementia, the brain lesions may all come from Alzheimer’s disease or cardiovascular disease, but there are also many people with both types of lesions. Although there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, there are many treatments for high blood pressure.

He appealed that controlling high blood pressure, preventing arteriosclerosis, and avoiding concussion or injury, which may prevent or reduce damage to brain cells, should be part of the dementia prevention and treatment strategy.

Editor in charge: Li Zhi