Hypertension Increases Dementia Risk in Women

Hypertension may be a more significant risk factor for dementia in women than in men, according to the results of a recent study.

In this cohort study, the researchers utilized data from the UK Biobank from 2006 to 2010 and included 502,226 adults in midlife. Participants were measured for systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), smoking status and intensity, diabetes mellitus, adiposity (including body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio), prior stroke, socioeconomic status, and lipids.

Overall, 45.9% (n = 4068) of women participants developed dementia over the median follow-up period of 11.8 years. Women had a lower risk of dementia than men (HR 0.83, [0.77-0.89]), with a crude incidence rate of 5.88 [95% CI, 5.62-6.16] per 10,000 person-years, compared to 8.42 [8.07-8.78] for men.

While women saw a dose-response relationship between systolic BP and dementia (HR 1.08 per 20 mmHg [1.02-1.13]), the relationship was U-shaped in men (HR 0.98 [0.93-1.03]). This relationship was consistent across dementia subtypes and was not impacted by antihypertensive medication use at baseline.

Among both men and women, a greater risk of dementia was associated with current smoking, diabetes, high adiposity, prior stroke, and low socioeconomic status.

“Several mid-life cardiovascular risk factors were associated with dementia similarly in women and men, but not raised BP,” the researchers concluded. “Future bespoke BP-lowering trials are necessary to understand its role in restricting cognitive decline and to clarify any sex differences.”

—Leigh Precopio

Reference:

Gong J, Harris K, Peters SAE, Woodward M. Sex differences in the association between major cardiovascular risk factors in midlife and dementia: a cohort study using data from the UK Biobank. BMC Medicine. 2021; 19; 110. doi: 10.1186/s12916-021-01980-z