Prevention of dementia and cerebroprotection with antihypertensive drugs

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke and is also closely correlated with cognitive decline and dementia. Indeed, most longitudinal studies showed that cognitive functioning is often inversely proportional to blood pressure values measured 15 or 20 years previously. Because of the aging of the population, the frequency of stroke and dementia will dramatically increase in the coming years. Therefore, the prevention of cerebrovascular and cognitive disorders represents a major challenge. Antihypertensive drugs have shown clinical benefits in both primary and secondary prevention of strokes. Consensus is generally that blood-pressure lowering represents the major determinant of the benefit conferred by the anti hypertensive treatment for stroke prevention; however, recent studies have suggested some differences between classes of antihypertensive drugs. The results of therapeutic trials (Systolic Hypertension in Europe [Syst-Eur], Perinclopril Protection Against Recurrent Stroke Study [PROGRESS]) open the way to the prevention of dementia (vascular or Alzheimer's type) by antihypertensive treatments. These two studies suggest different mechanisms for the prevention of cognitive decline using anti hypertensive drugs. In this context, reduced incidence of dementia should be the primary outcome of future trials comparing different classes of antihypertensive drugs.