Stroke Risk Profile May Predict Memory Problems

A person’s stroke risk profile, which includes high blood pressure, smoking, and diabetes, may also be helpful in predicting whether a person will develop memory and thinking problems later in life. Frederick Unverzagt, from Indiana University School of Medicine (Indiana, USA), and colleagues studied 23,752 men and women, average age 64 years, who were free of stroke and cognitive problems at the start of the study. Participants underwent a Framingham Stroke Risk Profile, which is used to determine a person’s risk of stroke by measuring their age, blood pressure, education level, history of heart disease, smoking and diabetes status, and whether they have left ventricular hypertrophy (a thickening of the heart muscle) and an abnormal heart rhythm.   After an average of four years of follow-up, 1,907 people had developed memory and thinking problems.  The researchers found the higher a person’s score on the Stroke Risk Profile, the greater the chance of developing cognitive problems four years later.  Specifically, 15% of people who scored among the highest 25^ on the Stroke Risk Profile test experienced cognitive problems, as compared to 3% of those who scored among the bottom 25%.  The study found older age and the presence of thickening in the heart muscle, which is a result of long-term high blood pressure, were the only Stroke Risk Profile factors independently associated with future cognitive problems. This association remained even after controlling for age, sex, race, where a person lived and education. In addition, the study also found high systolic blood pressure was related to cognitive problems in people without a thickening of the heart muscle.  “Our findings suggest that elevated blood pressure and thickening of the heart muscle may provide a simple way for doctors to identify people at risk for memory and thinking problems,” commented lead study author Unverzagt, who urged that: “Increased focus on preventing and treating high blood pressure may be needed to preserve cognitive health.”