Rising Blood Pressure in Early Adulthood Tied to Poor Brain Health Later in Life
Young adults with moderate or high blood pressure that continued to gradually increase as they reached middle age may have a higher risk for poor brain health, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open.1
The findings suggest that the trajectory of a person’s blood pressure levels matters. In other words, having high blood pressure at a young age that continues to worsen over time can significantly impact the structure of the brain.
Experts have known for some time now of a relationship between high blood pressure and brain health. Gabriel Zada, MD, a neurosurgeon and director of the USC Brain Tumor Center at Keck Medicine of USC (University of Southern California) who was not involved in the study, told Verywell blood pressure is linked to inflammatory issues and small injuries to blood vessels that could cause stroke and various forms of dementia.
How Blood Pressure Impacts the Brain
The research team analyzed the data of participants who enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study that looked at the heart health of White and Black adults.
Since the start of the study in 1985, over 5,000 participants (who were between 18 to 30 at the time) had their blood pressure checked and then rechecked eight more times within the next 30 years.
Based on their blood pressure readings later in life, the team categorized the participants into five groups:
- Low-stable group: people who had low blood pressure levels throughout the entire study
- Moderate-gradual group: people who started out with moderate blood pressure levels and experienced gradual increases as they aged
- Moderate-increasing group: people who started at moderate levels but experienced a sharp increase over time
- Elevated-stable group: people who started and maintained high blood pressure throughout the study period
- Elevated-increasing group: people who started out with high blood pressure that gradually increased until they hit 40, then experienced a moderate decrease
Participants who had high blood pressure that gradually increased in middle-age showed the smallest amount of gray matter volume and the highest abnormal white matter volume compared to people who maintained low blood pressure levels.
The elevated-increasing group also had the lowest amount of blood flow to gray matter areas compared to all other groups. Although, after the researchers considered the use of blood pressure medication in their analysis, the decrease in gray matter cerebral blood flow became nonsignificant.
People that began with moderate blood pressure levels and gradually increased it over time had more abnormal white matter volume than people with continuously low blood pressure.
