Blood pressure drug may decrease risk of dementia

The use of antihypertensive drugs -- drugs used to decrease blood pressure (BP) -- may also decrease dementia risk, suggests a recent study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the association between the use of antihypertensive drugs and the incidence of dementia. Jens Bohlken, from the Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP) from the Medical Faculty of the University of Leipzig, and colleagues conducted this retrospective study to investigate the relationship between the use of blood pressure drugs and dementia in elderly persons followed in general practices in Germany.

"After another setback for the anti-amyloid strategy, dementia prevention is increasingly becoming an area of interest," explains Dr. Bohlken. "In view of this, our most important task is to find existing therapies that are associated with a reduction in dementia risk or at least an extension of the time to dementia onset."

The researchers collected data from the Disease Analyzer database (IQVIA), which compiles drug prescriptions, diagnoses, and basic medical and demographic data obtained directly and in anonymous format from computer systems used in the practices of general practitioners and specialists. It included patients with documented blood pressure values and an initial diagnosis of dementia in 739 general practices in Germany between January 2013 and December 2017 (index date).

The main outcome of the study was the incidence of dementia as a function of the use of antihypertensive drugs (i.e. diuretics, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme [ACE] inhibitors, and angiotensin II receptor blockers).

The present study included 12,405 patients with dementia and 12,405 patients without dementia (mean age: 80.6 years; 61.3% women).

Key findings:

• The use of angiotensin II receptor blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, and beta blockers was associated with a decrease in dementia incidence.


• In patients treated with calcium channel blockers, increasing the duration of treatment decreased the incidence of dementia.

"Antihypertensive therapy alone cannot guarantee that dementia will never occur," noted corresponding author Prof. Karel Kostev, from the Epidemiology Department of IQVIA (Germany), "However, these findings highlight the importance of the prescription of antihypertensive drugs in the context of preventing hypertension-associated cognitive decline."

"Further studies are needed to gain a better understanding of the medications associated with a decreased risk of dementia. We plan to investigate the role of lipid-lowering drugs, antidepressants, and further medications in the future," concluded the authors.

For detailed study log on to http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/JAD-190362