Abstract
Background: Previous systematic reviews report that arterial hypertension (AHT) is associated with lower performance in cognition in the elderly. However, some studies show that with higher blood pressure, a better cognitive performance is obtained. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between AHT with cognitive performance in the elderly. Methods: the review involved a search on PubMed, Scopus and PsycINFO databases from January 1990 to March, 2020 to identify the relationship among AHT and cognitive performance in older people. Results: 1170 articles were identified, 136 complete papers were reviewed, a qualitative analysis of 26 studies and a quantitative analysis of eight studies were carried out. It was found that people with AHT have a lower performance in processing speed SMD = 0.40 (95% CI: 0.25, 0.54), working memory SMD = 0.28 (95% CI: 0.15, 0.41) in short-term memory and learning SMD = −0.27 (95% CI: −0.37, −0.17) and delayed recall SMD = −0.20 (95% CI: −0.35, −0.05). Only one study found that higher blood pressure was associated with better memory performance. Conclusion: Our results suggest that high blood pressure primarily affects processing speed, working memory, short-term memory and learning and delayed recall.
Highlights
Regular blood pressure is 120/80 mmHg. When it gets to 140/90 or more in a chronic manner, it is considered as high blood pressure or arterial hypertension (AHT) [1]
In the initial search strategy, we found 1169 articles, mainly on PubMed (After removing the duplicated publications), 1033 articles were rejected according in their titles and abstracts. 136 studies were reviewed, and out of these we excluded 37 due to differences regarding their methodology
Some studies perform a division by gender [35,36], and in five we did not find information on the composition by gender [37,38,39,40,41]
Summary
It is estimated that there are 1130 million people worldwide with AHT [1] It is associated with other diseases like diabetes [4], cancer [5], psychosocial stress [6], dementia or cognitive impairment [7]. It was found that people with AHT have a lower performance in processing speed SMD = 0.40 (95% CI: 0.25, 0.54), working memory SMD = 0.28 (95% CI: 0.15, 0.41) in short-term memory and learning SMD = −0.27 (95% CI: −0.37, −0.17) and delayed recall SMD = −0.20 (95% CI: −0.35, −0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that high blood pressure primarily affects processing speed, working memory, short-term memory and learning and delayed recall
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