Abstract
BackgroundA body of empirical work demonstrates that wide fluctuations in a person’s blood pressure across consecutive measures, known as blood pressure variability (BPV), hold prognostic value to predict stroke and transient ischemic attack. However, the magnitude of association between BPV and other neurological outcomes remains less clear. This systematic review aims to pool together data regarding BPV with respect to incident dementia, cognitive impairment, and cognitive function.MethodsElectronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, and SCOPUS) will be searched for the key words blood pressure variability and outcomes of dementia, cognitive impairment, and cognitive function. Authors and reference lists of included studies will also be contacted to identify additional published and unpublished studies. Eligibility criteria are as follows: population—adult humans (over 18 years but with no upper age limit) without dementia at baseline, with or without elevated blood pressure, or from hypertensive populations (systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg or use of antihypertensive drug for hypertension) and from primary care, community cohort, electronic database registry, or randomized controlled trial (RCT); exposure—any metric of BPV (systolic, diastolic or both) over any duration; comparison—persons without dementia who do not have elevated BPV; and outcome—dementia, cognitive impairment, cognitive function at follow-up from standardized neurological assessment, or cognitive testing. Article screening will be undertaken by two independent reviewers with disagreements resolved through discussion. Data extraction will include original data specified as hazard ratios, odds ratios, correlations, regression coefficients, and original cell data if available. Risk of bias assessment will be undertaken by two independent reviewers. Meta-analytic methods will be used to synthesize the data collected relating to the neurological outcomes with Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Version 2.0 (Biostat Inc., Engelwood, NJ).DiscussionThis systematic review aims to clarify whether BPV is associated with elevated risk for dementia, cognitive impairment, and cognitive function. An evaluation of the etiological links between BPV with incident dementia might inform evidence-based clinical practice and policy concerning blood pressure measurement and hypertension management. The review will identify sources of heterogeneity and may inform decisions on whether it is feasible and desirable to proceed with an individual participant data meta-analysis.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42017081977
Highlights
A body of empirical work demonstrates that wide fluctuations in a person’s blood pressure across consecutive measures, known as blood pressure variability (BPV), hold prognostic value to predict stroke and transient ischemic attack
A systematic review and meta-analysis pertaining to BPVs’ association with dementia, cognitive impairment, and cognitive function might in turn assist in the design of subsequent epidemiological studies and inform clinicians
This systematic review aims to add to the literature by aggregating data concerning the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment attributable to BPV
Summary
Aims The proposed review aims to synthesize the evidence base regarding BPV and subsequent dementia or cognitive impairment. Data items for collection After determination of the initial study, eligibility information will be extracted for each study pertaining to study identification (first author, year of publication, country where recruitment took place), study design and characteristics (sample size, duration of follow-up, attrition), characteristics of the population under study (age, sex, education, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, proportion with hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, stroke, apolipoprotein ε4 polymorphism, coronary heart disease, and heart failure), BPV exposure (methodology or methodologies), dementia adjudication (criteria, subtypes, use of consensus panel, number of endpoints), cognitive testing (full list of cognitive test(s) and their domains), effect size (unadjusted and most adjusted effect size or raw numbers), adjustment for covariates (list of variables), and funding (grant numbers or acknowledgement). The GRADE guidelines will be applied separately to each of the cognitive endpoints, providing a summary of findings tables with qualitative description as either high, moderate, low, or very low
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