What are consequences of high blood pressure?

People who have persistently high blood pressure at a young age have smaller brains. They also have an increased risk of developing dementia. These conclusions were reached by scientists from Australia and China, who published the results of a new study in the journal Hypertension.

Scientists from the University of Melbourne and Sun Yatsen University compared the magnetic tomography images taken in 2014-2019 of two groups of UK Biobank participants of 11,399 people - with and without high blood pressure, divided into 3 age categories: up to 35 years old, from 35 to 44 years, and from 45 to 54 years. As it turned out, people with high blood pressure at all ages had less total brain volume and the volume of its individual regions. The greatest loss was associated with the under 35 age group.

Researchers have also found that people with hypertension have an increased risk of developing dementia. Study participants with high blood pressure had a 61% higher risk of developing it later. The risk of vascular dementia in such people aged 35 to 44 increased by 69%. At the same time, the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease did not depend on the age of the participant.

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