High Blood Pressure Linked to Memory Loss in Older Men : Science File / an exploration of issues and trends affecting science, medicine and the environment

Men with high blood pressure in midlife are much more likely to have trouble thinking and remembering things when they are old, according to researchers from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands.

They studied 3,735 Japanese American men who were enrolled in a heart study in the 1960s and tracked through the early 1990s. The men’s ability to remember, think abstractly, make judgments and concentrate was measured when they were 78 years old on average. The team reported in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. that men with high systolic blood pressure--the higher of the two numbers in a blood pressure reading--during midlife were almost 2 1/2 times more likely to have poor cognitive function in old age.