Dementia can be caused by hypertension

A new study in Cardiovascular Research, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that patients with high blood pressure are at a higher risk of developing dementia. 

The result indicated that hypertensive patients showed significant alterations in three specific white matter fiber-tracts. 

Overall, white matter fiber-tracking on MRIs showed an early signature of damage in hypertensive patients when otherwise undetectable by conventional neuroimaging. 

"The problem is that neurological alterations related to hypertension are usually diagnosed only when the cognitive deficit becomes evident, or when traditional magnetic resonance shows clear signs of brain damage. "An important aspect to consider is that all the patients studied did not show clinical signs of dementia and, in conventional neuroimaging, they showed no signs of cerebral damage. 

Oxford University Press USA. "Dementia can be caused by hypertension." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 June 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180613101925.htm>.

Journal Reference:

Lorenzo Carnevale, Valentina D’Angelosante, Alessandro Landolfi, Giovanni Grillea, Giulio Selvetella, Marianna Storto, Giuseppe Lembo, Daniela Carnevale. Brain MRI fiber-tracking reveals white matter alterations in hypertensive patients without damage at conventional neuroimaging. Cardiovascular Research, 2018; DOI: 10.1093/cvr/cvy104