Denis Law: Man United legend diagnosed with dementia
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Dementia is a condition typified by memory loss beyond what is to be expected as a consequence of ageing. The condition is characterised by clumps of toxic protein in the brain, that prevent brain cells from communicating with one another. A lack of effective treatment to cure dementia has fuelled the search for early characterisation of the condition. One side, when you stand up, could signal you’re at risk.
Orthostatic hypotension is a form of low blood pressure characterised by the failure of blood vessels to constrict when the body takes an upright condition.
A drop in blood pressure reduces blood flow to the brain, causing feelings of light-headedness and dizziness.
Andreea M Rawling, from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a press release: “Orthostatic hypotension has been linked to heart disease, maintain and falls, so we wanted to conduct a large study to determine if this form of low blood pressure was also linked to problems in the brain, specifically dementia.
A study probing the link between hypotension and dementia included a total of 11,709 adults with no prior history of coronary heart disease, who were completed five follow-up visits over an average of 25 years.
Blood pressure was measured five minutes after the participant stood up in a swift motion, following a 20 minutes period of laying down.
Low blood pressure was defined as a decline of at least 20 mm/Hg of systolic blood pressure or 10 mm/Hg in diastolic blood pressure.
Normal blood pressure, on the other hand, was defined as less than 120/80mm/Hg.
Researchers noted that five percent of the cohort had low blood pressure at the baseline of the study,
After reviewing participants’ medical records, researchers found that 1,068 participants went on to develop dementia and 842 had an ischaemic stroke.
Findings suggested that participants with orthostatic hypotension at the beginning of the study were 54 percent more likely to develop dementia than those who did not.
Around 13 percent of patients with orthostatic hypotension developed dementia compared with 0 percent of patients without orthostatic hypotension.
Furthermore, the risk of having an ischaemic stroke was doubled among patients with orthostatic hypotension.
About 15 percent of patients with orthostatic hypotension had an ischaemic stroke, compared with 6.8 percent of those without hypotension.
Rawlings added: “Measuring orthostatic hypotension in middle age may be a new way to identify people who need to be carefully monitored for dementia or stroke.
“More studies are needed to clarify what may be causing these links as well as to investigate possible prevention strategies.”
The study adds to a line of research that suggests low blood pressure increases the risk of age-related cognitive decline.
This link is believed to be the result of reduced blood flow to the brain when an individual is sitting or standing.
A growing body of research has highlighted that insufficient blood flow to the brain plays a critical role in the development of dementia.
The risk of other conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, has also been linked to reduced blood flow to the brain.
Previous studies had also highlighted that diastolic blood pressure – which measures the pressure of blood coursing through the veins when the heart is at rest between beats – is the strong predictor of dementia.
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