High Blood Pressure in Your 30s May Link to Dementia Later in Life

Paula Gallagher on
Monitoring your blood pressure is good to do.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is when blood pressure is higher than normal, and it is a prevalent health condition in the United States. A normal blood pressure level is less than 130/80 mmHg. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 47% of adults in the United States have hypertension.

Hypertension is a serious condition and can put extra strain on your heart and blood vessels, increasing your risk for serious health problems such as heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease, and it may even impact brain health.

A recent study from University of California, Davis has shown that having high blood pressure in your 30s may negatively impact your brain health later in life, especially for men. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, compared magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans of older adults who had high blood pressure between the ages of 30 to 40 with those who had normal blood pressure. The researchers found that the high blood pressure group had significantly lower regional brain volumes and worse white matter integrity, both factors associated with dementia.

The researchers found that the negative brain changes in some regions, such as decreased grey matter volume and frontal cortex volume, were stronger in men. The differences may be related to the protective benefits of estrogen before menopause. Compared to participants with normal blood pressure, the brain scans of developing high blood pressure or with high blood pressure showed lower cerebral gray matter volume, frontal cortex volume, and fractional anisotropy (a measure of brain connectivity). The scores for men with high blood pressure were lower than those for women with high blood pressure.

This study demonstrates the importance of early life risk factors, and that heart health is important for brain health. The study joins a growing body of evidence that cardiovascular risk factors in young adulthood are detrimental to late-life brain health. Identifying modifiable risk and protective factors over the life course is key to reducing disease burden. High blood pressure is a treatable risk factor associated with dementia. This study indicates hypertension status in early adulthood is important for brain health decades later and highlights the importance of managing high blood pressure in young adulthood to maintain healthy brain function in later life. It also emphasizes the need for individuals to take responsibility for their health and prioritize their heart health to promote brain health.

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