Keeping Blood Pressure Under Control May Prevent Abnormalities of the Brain

Be good to your brain and keep your blood pressure under control.

Research studies from France are finding that victims of high blood pressure can minimize the magnitude of white matter hyperintensities that are present in the brain. Abnormalities found in the brain called white matter hyperintensities (WMH) are allied to Parkinson's disease type symptoms, depression, dementia, the danger of stroke and more.

According to a new release by Dr. Christophe Tzourio of the American Heart Association, "People with high blood pressure are more likely to develop WMH, and a larger volume of WMH are associated with cognitive decline, an increased risk of dementia and accelerated brain aging in some hypertensive patients."

According to the Journal of the American Heart Association, a study involving a five year period and 192 individuals who had suffered either a mini-stroke or a stroke was made to compare their brain waves using an MRI readout. Most of the persons in the study were around 60 years of age at the onset of the study. Around 50 percent of these persons were under treatment for hypertension.

All the individuals of the study group were given either a an ACE inhibitor, both a diuretic and an ACE inhibitor or just an inactive medicine. All the participants had an MRI at the inception of the test period and then again around three years later.

In the beginning no traces of WMH was found in 42 percent, a small amount was found in 26 percent, medium amounts in 13 percent and huge amounts in 19 percent of the test group. After being tested once again about three years from the first test, there were 24 individuals with new WMH but the danger of developing any new WHM had been lessened by 43 percent in the participants when looked at side by side with the inactive medicine groups. The study also showed that less than 80 percent of new developments of WMH of those who were being treated, as opposed to those who had no treatment.

In the study group, those individuals who had severe WHM and were being treated for hypertension had not developed any new abnormalities but those who were not receiving any treatment for their hypertension and had severe WMH did show an increase.

As now proven by this study, the danger of developing WHM or white matter lesions is reduced by lowering the pressure of the blood. This could be the connection between loss of cognitive abilities and hypertension.