CE: Original Research: Midlife Hypertension and Hypercholesterolemia in Relation to Cognitive Function Later in Life in Black Women.

Abstract

Participants were drawn from the Nurses' Health Study and the Women's Health Study databases. In these studies, health professionals reported health information by questionnaire at baseline and at regular follow-up intervals, including diagnoses of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or both; and they completed telephone-based cognitive assessments later in life. Multivariable-adjusted linear regression models were used to estimate mean differences in global cognition and executive function scores, comparing women with and without a history of hypertension at midlife and women with and without a history of hypercholesterolemia at midlife. Data for 363 black female health professionals were analyzed. Those with a history of hypertension or hypercholesterolemia at midlife did not have lower global cognition and executive function scores later in life compared with those without such a history, although there were trends in this direction. In the study sample, a history of hypertension or hypercholesterolemia at midlife was not related to worse cognitive function in later life. But there was a suggestive pattern of trends that warrants further exploration in larger studies.