Yo-Yoing Blood Pressure Could Be Bad for Those With Alzheimer's

A study in Hypertension found fluctuating blood pressure may be linked to compounded dementia in people with Alzheimer's, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers examined data from a randomized trial of 460 people who were 72 on average and had "mild-to-moderate" Alzheimer's. After 18 months, people who scored the highest in blood pressure variability had declined more cognitively than those with the least amount of variability. In 46 individuals for whom data on day-to-day blood pressure fluctuations was available, there were "significant associations" between variable blood pressure and dementia after 12 months, but not after 18. "This tells us it's still important to regulate blood pressure when you already have dementia," said the Radboud University Medical Center's Jurgen Claassen. "More fluctuations might affect whether cognitive function declines more slowly or rapidly."