Controlling Blood Pressure May Help Ward Off Dementia

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association determined intense blood pressure control was more effective at retarding accrual of white matter lesions than standard treatment, which may help stave off dementia later in life, reports CBS News . The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to scan participants' brains, and found those receiving intensive treatment to lower systolic blood pressure to less than 120 mm Hg had a lower increase in white matter lesions compared to increases seen in standard treatment participants. The effect was mainly observed in men. Walter Koroshetz at the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke said the results generally "support a growing body of evidence suggesting that controlling blood pressure may not only reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease, but also of age-related cognitive loss."