(ChicagoTribune.com) — Doctors long have cautioned patients about the consequences of uncontrolled high blood pressure, including heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure.
Now they can add cognitive decline to that list, after researchers discovered that patients with high blood pressure and other risk factors for stroke are more likely to develop thinking or reasoning problems than otherwise healthy individuals.
The link between cognitive decline and hypertension will put even more emphasis on prevention, said several stroke specialists.
“This takes the disease to an even earlier point, that if you don’t change these factors or modify or control them, you are likely going to develop some cognitive issues, even if you never develop stroke,” said Dr. Shyam Prabhakaran, director of the Stroke Program at Rush University Medical Center. “The impact of this study is really directly at primary care prevention.”
Prabhakaran said the study was impressive because of the large number of participants and their multiethnic backgrounds.
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