as a reading of 140/90 mmHg or more – and dementia is well established, but this is the first evidence to suggest that more modest spikes increase the risk. Drawing on a cohort study of 10,000 British civil servants who were subjected to a range of health tests in the mid-1980s and followed
up over subsequent decades, researchers found that a systolic blood pressure reading of just 130 mmHg at the age of 50 was associated with a 45% greater risk of developing dementia. The findings,
which were reported in the European Heart Journal, add weight to the argument that the level at which hypertension is diagnosed should be reduced from 140 mmHg to 130 mmHg – a change that
America made last year. However, many experts oppose the move (which would lead to about 14% more adults in the UK being diagnosed with hypertension) citing – among other things – evidence
that just being diagnosed with high blood pressure raises people’s risk of depression
and anxiety.
