Blood pressure and intellectual functioning in late midlife

Abstract

To determine how much change in cognitive performance can be attributed to blood pressure status, 103 adults were assessed on two occasions approximately 11 years apart. Subjects' ages ranged from 49 to 63 years on the second occasion. Regression analyses were performed to determine how much variance in change in performance on the Digit Span, Block Design, Object Assembly, and Digit Symbol tests was accounted for by blood pressure status. Time 1 and Time 2 diastolic blood pressure, and change in hypertension medication significantly predicted Time 2 performance on the Digit Span Forward test even after Time 1 test performance, age, education, and gender were accounted for. The results further confirm the importance of assessing health functioning when studying age-related changes in cognitive performance.