Recent research suggests that treating hypertension in one’s thirties may reduce one’s risk of experiencing cognitive decline and dementia later in life.

For the study featured in JAMA Network Open, researchers took two readings of blood pressure from 427 persons between the ages of 30 and 40.

Having elevated blood pressure in the thirties is linked to dementia, which has been associated with decreased brain volume and white matter integrity.

Researchers followed up with study participants at an average age of 75 and performed MRI scans to look for late-life indicators of cognitive deterioration and establish whether they had been hypertensive, were moving towards hypertension, or had normal blood pressure in early adulthood.

Brain scans of those whose blood pressure was either rising or who were in the process of rising showed diminished volumes of cerebral grey matter, the frontal cortex, and fractional anisotropy (a marker of brain connection).

Men with hypertension had lower scores, indicating that oestrogen’s potential brain-protective effects may be more pronounced in premenopausal women.

High blood pressure is a manageable risk factor for dementia, despite the widespread prevalence of other risk factors. The study’s first author, UC Davis assistant professor Kristen M. George, remarked, “This study indicates that hypertension status in early adulthood is important for brain health decades later.”

According to the CDC, nearly half (47%) of all adult Americans have hypertension (high blood pressure, defined as a reading of 130 over 80 mm Hg or more).

Rachel Whitmer, the senior author of the study, is a professor in the departments of public health sciences and neurology and chief of the Division of Epidemiology.

“We are excited to be able to continue following these participants and to uncover more about what we can do in early life to set ourselves up for healthy brain ageing in late life,” she said.