Effects of Higher Normal Blood Pressure on Brain Are Detectable before Middle-Age and Differ by Sex

Figures

• 

  Figure A1. Flow diagram of included and excluded participants.

• 

  Figure 1. The proportion effects of BP including (a) mean arterial pressure (MAP), (b) systolic blood pressure (SBP), (c) diastolic blood pressure (DBP), on the brain volumes including gray matter, white matter, left and right hippocampus and white matter lesions, across age groups in men and women. Association presented as unstandardized beta coefficient and corresponding standard error (SD). Note that for ease of interpretation, we exponentiated the coefficients to produce the proportionate effect of a 10 mmHg higher blood pressure on mean brain volume for each brain region and white matter lesion (WMLs) in men and women. For instance, an exponentiated coefficient of 1.1 reflects a 10% increase in mean brain volume.

• 

  Figure 2. Proportion effects of pulse pressure (PP) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) on the brain volumes including gray matter, white matter, left hippocampus (L hippocampus), right hippocampus (R hippocampus), and white matter lesions (WMLs) across age groups in men (a) and women (b). Graphs compare the effects of PP, SBP non-adjusted by PP and SBP adjusted by PP for each brain region and WMLs in men and women. Association presented as unstandardized beta coefficient and corresponding standard error (SD). Note that for ease of interpretation, we exponentiated the coefficients to produce the proportionate effect of a 10 mmHg higher blood pressure on mean brain volume for each brain region and WMLs in men and women. For instance, an exponentiated coefficient of 1.1 reflects a 10% increase in mean brain volume.