High Blood Pressure Makes It Harder To Think
Study: Untreated, Hypertension Erodes Mental Ability
By Tony Cappasso, Contributing Writer
September 11, 2000, 6:30 p.m. EDT
High blood pressure could make learning and thinking harder, according to a study published in the journal Neurology.
A research team studied 1,373 people ages 59 to 71, taking their blood pressures and administering standardized tests of mental abilities at the start of the test, after two years and again after four years.
According to the research team, 21.7 percent of the study participants who had untreated hypertension showed a marked drop in their thinking and reasoning abilities.
Of those in the study with normal blood pressures, only 7.5 percent showed similar mental declines.
The researchers concluded that the risk of loss of mental abilities was greatest among study participants with untreated high blood pressure.
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