Health Personal Measures

Hypertension and High Blood Pressure are two diseases that reduce blood flow in the brains of the adults who are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Hypertension conditions make the blood circulate through arteries with extreme thrust. Though hypertension is not a direct cause of Alzheimer’s disease but it hits on the brain and thus enhances the vulnerability to several effects of the disease.

These are the conclusive findings of a recent study carried out at the “University of Pitsbugh”.These findings were also presented recently at the annual meeting of the” Radiological Society of North America(RSNA)”.There have been several researches in recent past and there are enough evidences available that connect the cardiovascular health with the brain health.

Reliable estimations of the “National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute” reveal that there are almost 50 million Americans who are suffering from hypertension presently. All these people are open to direct risks of cardiac attacks and aneurysm. Mild cognitive impairment, which affects brain functions such as language, attention and reasoning, is a transition stage between normal aging deficits in the brain and greater levels of dementia.

This study demonstrates that good vascular health is equally good for the brain.“Even in people with Alzheimer’s disease, it is important to detect and aggressively treat hypertension and also to focus on disease prevention”, said Dr.Oscar Lopez, Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh.

Researchers applied specific techniques and used ‘arterial spin-labeled magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)’. For 68 older adults, this technique was applied for measuring and imaging the blood flow in the brain.’ Arterial Spin-Labeled Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)’ is a novel, non-invasive technique and it does not require any external contrast agent.

The study involved 48 normal individuals. This group of individuals included 38 with hypertension and 10 without; 20 Alzheimer’s patients, including 10 with hypertension and 10 without; and 20 adults with mild cognitive impairment, 10 with hypertension and 10 without.

The MRI results thus obtained showed that in all patient groups blood flow in the brain was substantially decreased in patients with hypertension compared to those individuals who did not have hypertension. Cerebral blood flow recorded came out to be the lowest among the Alzheimer’s patients with hypertension, but the normal group with hypertension showed significantly lower cerebral blood flow in comparison to the normal group having no hypertension.

The study results established that a positive change in the blood flow patterns will make impacts on the hypertension and would be helpful in contributing to the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease.

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