Previous studies have demonstrated an association between hypertension and dementia but the evidence has been inconsistent in relation to types of dementia. It has also been suggested that having hypertension during pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of dementia later in life but there have been few large studies where participants have been followed up over a long enough period of time to be able to definitively say that the increased risk of dementia is due to hypertension in pregnancy or other factors.
In this study, researchers analysed data from 1.3 million participants in the Million Women Study, 16% of whom reported being treated for hypertension at recruitment to the study. Their health records were then followed up over an average of 21 years to identify participants who developed dementia. During follow-up, 84,729 participants developed dementia; of whom 27,522 were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and 14,346 were diagnosed with vascular dementia.
The association between hypertension during pregnancy and risk of dementia was also investigated. After excluding women who had not had children, there were 1.2 million participants in the analysis, 27% of whom reported hypertension in pregnancy.
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Population Health website.