Hypertension in the elderly is associated with white matter lesions and cognitive decline

Forty-two elderly patients (mean age, 66.2 +/- 5.1 yr) with hypertension, treated for an average of 17.3 years (standard deviation, 10.3), and 42 control subjects (mean age, 66.5 +/- 4.8 yr), matched for age, sex, and level of education, were studied with regard to the detection of lesions in the cerebral white matter with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), particularly with axial T2-weighted images. The assessment of the MRI scans was blinded. Ten hypertensive patients showed confluent lesions in the white matter, versus only 1 control subject (Chi-square test, p = 0.01). The presence of diffuse lesions of the white matter was related to age but not to the known duration of hypertension, nor to the presence of any other cardiovascular risk factors. Cognitive function was measured in 34 hypertensive patients and in 18 control subjects. Results of the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Stroop color-word test, Trailmaking test, and the visual subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale were worse in patients with confluent lesions of the white matter; there was no difference in mental functioning between hypertensive patients and control subjects with normal white matter or with only small focal lesions. Our findings suggest that long-standing hypertension in some patients may cause not only strokes but also chronic end-organ damage of the brain in the form of demyelination of the white matter, with cognitive decline.