Antihypertensive Agents Reduce Alzheimer Disease Incidence

Antihypertensive agents may reduce the incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD) among individuals with hypertension who have cognition within normal limits, according to the results of a recent study.

The researchers conducted a systematic review and two meta-analyses of cohort or case-control studies included in several databases from database inception to February 18, 2022. Nine studies with 1,527,410 individuals were included. All participants were 40 years of age or older with hypertension and cognition within normal limits at baseline.

The results indicated that the use of antihypertensive agents was associated with a 6% reduction in the risk of incident AD when compared with non-users (relative risk [RR] 0.94; 95% CI: 0.90 - 0.99, p = .01). Further, the researchers found that the use of angiotensin II receptor blockers was associated with a reduction in the risk of AD, when compared with other antihypertensive agents (RR 0.78; 95% CI: 0.68 - 0.88, p < .001).

“Our review provides evidence that the use of antihypertensive agents is associated with a lower incidence of Alzheimer disease,” the researchers concluded. “The use of angiotensin II receptor blockers may provide the most benefit among hypertensive agents. Lowering raised blood pressure may not be the only mechanism for cognitive protection and further investigation of the effects of angiotensin II on cognition is indicated.”

—Leigh Precopio

Reference:

Adesuyan M, Jani YH, Cheung ECL, et al. Antihypertensive agents and incident Alzheimer disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. J Prev Alzheimers Dis. 2022;9:715-724. doi:10.14283/jpad.2022.77