Study suggests high blood pressure in your 30s may harm brain health in your 70s


New research by experts at the University of California has provided evidence that high blood pressure in early adulthood can harm brain health in later life.

According to the article published in JAMA Network Open, people with high blood pressure around the age of 30 have a higher risk of worse brain health around the age of 75, especially men.

The researchers examined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans of older people who had high blood pressure in their 30s and 40s and older people who had normal blood pressure.

They found that the group with high blood pressure had significantly smaller regional brain volumes and poorer white matter integrity, both factors linked to dementia.

Negative brain changes in some regions, including decreased gray matter volume and frontal cortex volume, were more pronounced in men.