Blood pressure, cardiac biomarkers and cognitive function in old age

Abstract

With the increase in life expectancy, the prevalence of cognitive disorders is expected to rise the coming years. In this thesis we studied the association between blood pressure, cardiac biomarkers and cognitive function in 5800 people with mean age of 75 years. Furthermore, we investigated the feasibility to use smartphone technology to measure home blood pressure in 151 people during a 6 months follow-up period. We show that higher variability in blood pressure is associated with increased microdamage of the brain and worse cognitive function, independent of average blood pressure and use of blood pressure lowering medication. Furthermore, increased levels of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and cardiac troponin T (cTnT), both markers of cardiac disease, are associated with worse cognitive function and steeper cognitive decline, independent of cardiovascular diseases or risks. Finally, we show that smartphone-based technology is a reliable and promising method with good adherence to measure blood pressure at home. This provides a possibility for implementation in large-scale studies and can potentially contribute to blood pressure reduction, eventually helping to prevent cognitive impairment.