Effect of elevated blood pressure on cognitive outcome in a clinical sample of middle-aged women

Background Cognitive impairment (CI) risk factors include hypertension (HTN), which can be managed. This work investigated the relationship between HTN concepts and mental processes in women aged 40–60 years, thereby enabling early intervention to prevent progressive CI. Methods This cross-sectional study enrolled 300 female patients aged 40–60 years, each with at least 12 years of education. Women were assigned to three equal groups: hypertensive (Group 1), pre-hypertensive (Group 2), and normotensive (Group 3) as healthy controls. Every single patient underwent neuropsychological evaluations, including the following: the Stroop Color-Word Test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Trail Making Test (TMT-A & B), and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results MMSE, WMS-III, WCST, number of categories completed, correct responses, and conceptual-level responses were substantially different between groups 2 and 3; in comparison with group 3, group 1 showed a decrease ( P < 0.05). TMT-A, TMT-B, Stroop test, total numbers of trials administered, errors, perseverative response, perseverative and failure to retain set, non-perseverative errors, and attempts to finish the first category were considerably elevated with respect to groups 2 and 3, and to groups 1 and 2 ( P < 0.05). Conclusions HPB was associated with substantial CI in middle-aged women, even at pre-hypertensive levels.