Does midlife hypertension and elevated midlife systolic blood pressure increase the risk of cognitive decline over 20 years?
Midlife hypertension and elevated midlife systolic blood pressure are associated with long-term cognitive decline, highlighting the importance of midlife blood pressure control.
Midlife hypertension and elevated midlife but not late-life systolic BP was associated with more cognitive decline during the 20 years of the study. Greater decline is found with higher midlife BP in whites than in African Americans.
Gottesman et al. (Mon,) studied this question.