Key points from article :
A large study has found that women who develop high blood pressure in their 50s and 60s face a significantly greater risk of vascular dementia later in life. Published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia and led by Sarah Floud of Oxford Population Health, the research draws on data from the Million Women Study, which followed 1.3 million participants over an average of 21 years. During this time, nearly 85,000 women developed dementia.
The analysis showed that midlife hypertension was linked to a 17% higher risk of developing dementia overall, with the strongest effect seen for vascular dementia, where the risk was increased by 50%. In contrast, no significant connection was found between midlife hypertension and Alzheimer’s disease, highlighting that blood vessel damage rather than brain cell degeneration may drive the link.
The researchers also examined whether high blood pressure during pregnancy raised dementia risk. While there was a slight increase, this effect was largely explained by women who later developed hypertension in midlife. Once midlife hypertension was accounted for, pregnancy-related high blood pressure alone showed only a minimal association with dementia.
The findings reinforce the importance of preventing and managing high blood pressure in midlife as a key public health strategy. By tackling hypertension earlier in life, researchers suggest it may be possible to reduce the burden of vascular dementia as the population ages.
