Orthostatic hypotension and executive function in older people from the French MERE cohort attending a memory clinic

Abstract

Orthostatic hypotension (OH) seems to be implicated in cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, not all the cognitive functions affected by OH have been identified. Participants from the MERE cohort were evaluated for OH (i.e. drop in blood pressure ≥20 mmHg for systolic and ≥10 mmHg for diastolic between lying and standing) and executive functions, implicated in brain motor control, and evaluated with the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) and its sub-scores. Of the 1573 patients selected, 338 had OH (21.5 %). We found an inverse cross-sectional association between OH and linear FAB score and an association with the sub-score for the motor sequence of Luria. In the MERE cohort, OH was associated with executive function disorder and with a pathological motor sequence of Luria as a melo-kinetic praxis disorder.

Keywords: Cognition; Executive functions; Older adults; Orthostatic hypotension; Praxis.