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Circadian blood pressure pattern and cognitive function in newly diagnosed older hypertensives
P Cicconetti1, V Ciotti, G Monteforte
1Department of Geriatrics, 1st Institute of Medicine, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. paolocicconetti@tin.it
Insights
In early hypertension, the non-dipping blood pressure pattern is not linked to cognitive decline. This study found no differences in cognitive function between dippers and non-dippers in newly diagnosed hypertensive individuals.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Neurology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Hypertension is classified into dippers and non-dippers based on nocturnal blood pressure fall.
- Previous research on organ damage in these groups yielded inconsistent results.
- The relationship between circadian blood pressure patterns and cognitive function, especially in early hypertension, remains understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between circadian blood pressure patterns (dipping vs. non-dipping) and cognitive function in older adults with newly diagnosed, untreated hypertension.
Main Methods:
- 40 older hypertensive patients (23 dippers, 17 non-dippers) with recent diagnoses underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM).
- Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).
- Event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically N2 and P300 wave latencies, were recorded.
Main Results:
- No significant differences were observed in MMSE scores between dippers and non-dippers.
- P300 latency values did not differ significantly between the two groups.
- N2 wave latency values also showed no significant differences, indicating no association with the non-dipping pattern.
Conclusions:
- The non-dipping blood pressure pattern is not associated with impaired cognitive function in the early stages of hypertension.
- Cognitive assessments, including MMSE and ERPs, did not reveal differences between dippers and non-dippers in this cohort.
Abstract:
Hypertensive subjects can be subdivided in two groups, dippers and non-dippers, according to the presence or the lack of a nocturnal fall of blood pressure (BP) of over 10%. Several studies have investigated cardiovascular and cerebrovascular organ damage in the two groups with discordant results, but fewer of them analysed the relationship between circadian BP pattern and cognitive function, and none in the early phases of hypertension. To this purpose, we selected 40 older hypertensives, 23 dippers and 17 non-dippers, with newly diagnosed hypertension, never treated, who underwent to 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and recording of event-related potentials (ERPs). No significant differences between dippers and non-dippers were found in the MMSE scores and P300 latency values, as we expected, and not even in N2 wave latency values, showing that the non-dipping pattern is not associated with lower cognitive function in the early phases of hypertension.