Journal
NEUROLOGY
Volume 91, Issue 6, Pages E517-E525Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000005951
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Funding
- NIH [P30 AG010161, RF1 AG015819, R01 AG17917, RF1 AG22018, R01 AG40039, R01 NS084965, UH2 NS100599]
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Objective To examine associations of average and change in late-life blood pressure (BP) with cerebrovascular and Alzheimer disease (AD) neuropathology in a large group of decedents followed longitudinally in vivo. Methods This clinical-pathologic study was derived from prospective, community-based cohort studies of aging with similar design and data collection. Measurements of systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were obtained annually (mean follow-up 8 years, SD = 4.8). Postmortem neuropathologic evaluations documented diseases of aging. Using regression analyses, we examined associations of average and decline in late-life SBP, and separately in DBP, with neuropathology. Results In 1,288 persons (mean age at death = 88.6 years; 65% women), the mean standardized person-specific SBP across the study was 134 (SD = 13) and DBP was 71 (SD = 8) mmHg. The odds of brain infarcts were increased for participants with a higher mean SBP. Specifically, a person with a 1 SD SBP above the mean (147 vs 134 mm Hg) would have a 46% increased odds of having one or more infarcts, and an increased odds of gross infarct (46%) and microinfarct (36%). Furthermore, a more rapidly declining SBP slope over time increased the odds of one or more infarcts. Mean DBP, not slope, was related to brain infarcts. AD pathology analyses showed an association of a higher mean SBP with higher number of tangles (p = 0.038) but not plaques or other pathology (all p > 0.06). Changes in BP were not significantly related to AD pathology. Conclusions Higher average late-life SBP and DBP, and independently a faster decline in SBP, are associated with increasing number of brain infarcts, including gross and microinfarcts. We found some evidence for a relation of SBP with AD, specifically tangles. Both average and decline in BP are related to brain disease.
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