Midlife blood pressure tied to white matter hyperintensities

Reuters Health - 30/11/2020 - People with a history of even mildly elevated blood pressure at midlife are at risk for increased white matter hyperintensities load later in life, a study of UK Biobank data suggests. Researchers examined data collected on 37,041 UK Biobank participants at enrollment, between March 2006 and October 2010 when they were 40-69 years old (mean age 55.3 years), and at follow-up between August 2014 and October 2019 (mean age 64.1). All the included participants had MRI scans and white matter hyperintensity volume data, and the median time between visits was 9.07 years (range 4.28-13.49 years). Any increase in blood pressure, even below the typical threshold for intervention of 140 mmHg for systolic and 90 mmHg for diastolic pressure, was associated with increased white mater hyperintensity volume, the study team reports in the European Heart Journal. This was particularly true for people on antihypertensive medication. For every 10mmH...

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Posted on 30 November, 20201 December, 2020