HYPERTENSION AND COGNITIVE DECLINE DURING AGING

Hypertension as a risk factor for cerebrovascular disease (CVD) has only a post hoc statistical power. Hypertension as a predictor of CVD needs evidence from the identification of the relationship between hypertension and the pathophysiological development of the cerebrovascular disturbances. Cognitive deficits were identified in hypertensive patients at stage I or II of disease. They were of mild to moderate intensity and associated but independent from emotional problems. Their intensity was related to the duration of the disease. Only 30 % of the patients studied were free from any cognitive and/or emotional problem. These results confirmed the hypothesis that hypertension is only a sign of a progressive pathophysiological process which can be characterized by other concomitant disturbances.