Relationship between late-life hypertension, blood pressure, and alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Relationship between late-life hypertension and Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains less clear. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal methods were used to examine whether systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and self-reported hypertension (S-HTN) in late life were associated with having and developing AD. The cross-sectional examination included 1768 individuals with AD and 818 nondemented individuals, and AD was not significantly associated with S-HTN or any of blood pressure measures (S-HTN: P =.236; SBP: P =.095; DBP: P =.429; PP: P =.145; MAP: P =.162). In the longitudinal examination, 594 nondemented individuals, 171 with and 423 without S-HTN at entry, were included. Diastolic blood pressure was significantly related to the development of AD (P =.030) but not S-HTN (P =.251), SBP (P =.294) PP (P =.919), and MAP (P =.060). The association underscores the necessity of further investigation to outline the detailed mechanisms and biological relevance, if any, of late-life DBP to later AD. © 2011 The Author(s).