Untreated hypertension has been linked to a 42 percent increased risk of Alzheimer's disease

Researchers from 14 countries conducted a meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies and concluded that untreated hypertension was associated with a 42 percent increased risk of Alzheimer's disease compared to those receiving antihypertensive therapy and a 36 percent increased risk compared to healthy individuals. The paper is reported in the journal Neurology. Matthew Lennon of the University of New South Wales and colleagues from Australia, Benin, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Sweden, the United States, and Italy analyzed data from 14 out-of-hospital COSMIC consortium studies with a total of 31250 participants (41 percent men) from 14 countries. The mean age of participants at the time of inclusion was 72 years. Data were statistically processed using Kosovian proportional hazards mixed-effects models with adjustments for sex, age, education level, ethnicity, and study cohort.

Participants with untreated arterial hypertension were found to have a significantly increased risk of Alzheimer's disease: the hazard ratio (HR) was 1.42 (95% confidence interval 1.08-1.87; p = 0.0135) compared with those receiving therapy and 1.36 (95% confidence interval 1.01-1.83; p = 0.0406) compared with no hypertension. Meanwhile, the risk of non-Alzheimer's dementia was elevated in hypertensive patients with and without treatment: HR 1.29 (95 percent confidence interval 1.03-1.60; p = 0.0267) and 1.69 (95 percent confidence interval 1.19-2.40; p = 0.0032), respectively.