Help to reduce high blood pressure lowers dementia risk, study finds
People given intensive help to reduce their high blood pressure such as medication and coaching have a lower risk of dementia, researchers have found.According to the World Health Organization, 57 million people around the world had dementia in 2021.However, experts have long stressed dementia is not an inevitable consequence of ageing.Researchers found about half of cases could be prevented or delayed by addressing 14 risk factors including hearing impairment, smoking, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption and social isolation – as well as high blood pressure.Now researchers say tackling the last of these could reduce the risk of dementia by 15%.
“Antihypertensive treatment can prevent dementia in patients with uncontrolled hypertension,” said Prof Jiang He, the co-author of the study, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.“Given the high prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension worldwide, this effective intervention should be widely adopted and scaled up to reduce the global burden of dementia.”Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers in China and the US reported how the trial involved 33,995 people aged 40 years and over with uncontrolled high blood pressure, spread across 326 villages in rural China.The team randomly selected 163 of these villages, with the 17,407 participants who lived there given intensive blood pressure management from non-physician community healthcare providers, often called “village doctors”.This included free or cheap medications to lower blood pressure, given at tailored doses, health coaching to help them stick to medications and lifestyle modifications – such as weight loss, alcohol reduction and reducing salt intake – and equipment and instructions to monitor blood pressure at home.
The other 163 villages – encompassing 16,588 participants – received “usual care” – meaning participants’ blood pressure was managed in their normal clinical settings.While lifestyle changes were recommended and some took blood pressure-lowering drugs, this group did not receive free at-home blood pressure monitors or medications, or coaching.When the researchers followed up with the participants after four years, they found 668 of those in the intensive blood pressure management group had dementia, compared with 734 in the usual care group – with analyses suggesting the former group had a 15% lower risk of dementia.Further work revealed this group had a 16% lower risk of cognitive impairment without dementia.While the team noted that the cognitive function of participants was not assessed at the start of the study, they said the similarity of participants in the two groups means this is unlikely to skew the findings.
However, Prof Joanna Wardlaw, of the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the work, said the study could not unpick the relative contribution of optimal blood-pressure control and lifestyle changes on the reduction in dementia risk, suggesting the results reflected a combined effect.Others said similar research should now be carried out with longer follow-up periods, and added that the approach also needed to be trialled in other countries.Prof Tara Spires-Jones, the director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, said the research “provides further strong evidence supporting the importance of managing blood pressure and other cardiovascular risks to protect the brain during ageing”.But, she added: “It is important to note that treating high blood pressure was not a foolproof guarantee as some people receiving treatment still developed dementia.”
Australians pay $84 a month for their internet. Why so expensive, and what can be done to lower the cost?
Australians are paying an average of $84 per month for internet access on the NBN – and in a cost-of-living crisis, questions are being raised about why cheaper internet is not available for people on lower incomes.What could be done to lower NBN pricing plans, and can we learn from overseas?According to the latest report, about 8.6m of the 12.5m premises able to connect to the NBN are now using the service in Australia.Consumer advocacy group Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (Accan’s) latest survey conducted by Essential, of 1,065 people, found Australians are paying $84 per month on average for their home internet connection, with 31% paying between $81 and $100, 30% paying between $61 and $80, 20% paying over $100, and just 13% paying $60 or under (with the rest unsure)
Views of TikTok posts with electronic music outgrow those using indie
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Parents must make tough choices on smartphones, says children’s commissioner for England
Parents should be prepared to make difficult decisions over their child’s smartphone usage rather than trying to be their friend, the children’s commissioner for England has said.Dame Rachel de Souza said this should include parents considering the example they are setting their children through their own phone usage.Writing in the Sunday Times, de Souza said that “if we are serious about protecting our children, we have to look at our own behaviour”.She added: “The temptation as a parent to give in to a child’s pleas is a real one. Every parent has been in that position
It’s not too late to stop Trump and the Silicon Valley broligarchy from controlling our lives, but we must act now | Carole Cadwalladr
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British firms urged to hold video or in-person interviews amid North Korea job scam
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‘Don’t ask what AI can do for us, ask what it is doing to us’: are ChatGPT and co harming human intelligence?
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