Blood pressure medicines lower risk of dementia, finds JAMA study

Researchers examined data from 12 randomized trials that compared cognitive outcomes between participants assigned to antihypertensive drugs and those randomized to controls (placebo, alternative antihypertensive drug, or higher blood pressure target). They searched PubMed, EMBASE, and CENTRAL for randomized clinical trials published from database inception through December 31, 2019, that evaluated the association of blood pressure lowering on cognitive outcomes. The control groups consisted of either placebo, alternative antihypertensive agents, or higher blood pressure targets.Data were screened and extracted independently by 2 authors. Random-effects meta-analysis models were used to report pooled treatment effects and CIs.

The researchers found that blood pressure lowering with antihypertensive agents, compared with control, was associated with the development of a composite dementia or cognitive impairment outcome in 7.0% vs 7.5% of patients over a mean trial follow-up of 4.1 years, a difference that was statistically significant.

The authors concluded that in this meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials, blood pressure lowering with antihypertensive agents compared with control was significantly associated with a lower risk of incident dementia or cognitive impairment.

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JAMA. 2020;323(19):1934-1944.