Higher central and brachial systolic blood pressure is selectively associated with weaker cogntive performance in postmenopausal women but not older men

Introduction: Higher aortic stiffness and central blood pressure (BP) are associated with reduced cognitive performance in older adults. Cognitive performance tends to be higher in older women compared with older men, unexplained by differences in years of formal education and/or presence of atherosclerotic vascular disease (AVD). However, whether gender-related differences in cognitive function are explained by alterations in aortic stiffness or central blood pressure (BP) is unclear. We hypothesized that higher aortic stiffness and central systolic BP would be associated with weaker cognitive performance in middle-aged/older (MA/O) men but not postmenopausal women.

Source: Artery Research - November 25, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: lyndsey E. Dubose, David J. Moser, Taylor Stecklein, Emily Harlynn, William G. Haynes, Gary L. Pierce Source Type: research