Blood Pressure and Cognition Among Older Adults: A Meta-Analysis

Hypertension has adverse effects on cognition, can alter cerebral vasculature integrity, and is associated with the pathogenesis of dementia. Using meta-analysis, we correlated blood pressure to multiple cognitive domains among older adults free of clinical stroke and dementia. We identified 230 studies indexed in PubMed and PsycINFO relating blood pressure and cognition. After applying exclusion criteria, we selected n = 12 articles with n = 4,076 participants (age range 43-91 years). Meta-analysis yielded an association between blood pressure and episodic memory (r = -.18, p < .001) and between blood pressure and global cognition (r = -.07, p < .001). When limiting analyses to studies adjusting for vascular covariates (n = 8, n = 2,141), blood pressure was modestly related to global cognition (r = -.11, p < .001), attention (r = .14, p = .002), and episodic memory (r = -.20, p < .001) with a trend for language (r = -.22, p = .07). Findings underscore the need to manage blood pressure as a key prevention method in minimizing abnormal cognitive aging prior to the onset of clinical dementia.