Getting treatment for high blood pressure may reduce chances of developing dementia

Reducing high blood pressure substantially lowers the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment without dementia, according to the results of a phase 3 clinical trial involving almost 34,000 patients. These findings highlight the potential importance of widespread adoption of more intensive blood pressure control among patients with hypertension to reduce the global disease burden of dementia. Research has found that people with untreated hypertension have a 42% greater risk of developing dementia in their lifetime than healthy study participants. Jiang He and colleagues tested the effectiveness of an intervention led by non-physician community health care providers (sometimes called "village doctors")...