You At Your Best

By KARen Rice you At youR BeSt Nearly half of American adults have high blood pressure or hypertension. High blood pressure can damage your arteries by making them less elastic, which decreases the flow of blood and oxygen to your heart and leads to heart disease. It doesn't happen overnight, but left untreated, it scars and damages your arteries, making your heart work harder than normal and leading to heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, eye damage, heart failure and fatty buildups in the arteries, called atherosclerosis. "In most cases, the damage done by high blood pressure takes place over time," said Dr. Ashu Dhanjal of Northwest Cardiology in Fayetteville. And now, new research indicates that high blood pressure can also affect brain health. A study published earlier this month in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal, establishes the link between hypertension and accelerated cognitive decline. The study participants were followed for an average of nearly 4 years; testing included analysis of memory, verbal fluency and executive function, which includes attention, concentration and other factors associated with thinking and reasoning. Their analysis found: • Systolic blood pressure between 121 and 139 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure between 81 and 89 mmHg with no antihypertensive medication use was associated with accelerated cognitive performance decline among middle-aged and older individuals. • The speed of decline in cognition happened regardless of hypertension duration, meaning high blood pressure for any length of time, even a short duration, might impact a person's speed of cognitive decline. • Adults with uncontrolled hypertension tended to experience notably faster declines in memory and global cognitive function than adults who had controlled hypertension. "We initially anticipated that the negative effects of hypertension on cognitive function would be more critical when hypertension started at a younger age, however, our results show similar accelerated cognitive performance decline whether hypertension started in middle age or at older ages," said study author Sandhi M. Barreto, M.D., M.Sc., Ph.D. "We also found that effectively treating high blood pressure at any age in adulthood could reduce or prevent this acceleration." Dr. Dhanjal agrees. "From this research, we're learning that hypertension needs to be prevented, diagnosed and effectively treated in adults of any age to preserve cognitive function," he said. High blood pressure: it affects more than your heart According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, studies have shown that air pollution can trigger heart attacks and strokes. The threat posed by air pollution is greater among people who have or have had coronary artery disease, angina, heart attack, bypass surgery or an angioplasty, heart failure, stroke or transient ischemic attack, or blockages in the arteries of the neck or legs. People who have internal cardiac defibrillators also may be at greater risk of heart attack or stroke due to air pollution. While it's common to assume that air pollution is only a problem for people who live in large cities, the American Heart Association warns against making such assumptions, noting that air pollution can be traced to a host of sources, including wildfires and cooking with wood stoves, that can be found outside of major cities. The AHA also notes that researchers believe pollution has inflammatory effects on the heart that can cause cardiovascular problems. Air quality & heart health Sunday, January 31, 2021 | February - HaPPy HearT nWadg.COm/yOuaTyOurbeST | yOu aT yOur beST | 5

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