It’s “breakthrough” time again. News reports out of the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) this week have been relentlessly upbeat and positive about findings from the NIH’s SPRINT MIND study. The message: aggressive blood pressure control can help protect the brain. But unless you look very carefully at the news reports and “expert” statements you won’t…
No, A Big NIH Trial Did Not Show That Lowering Blood Pressure Will Prevent Dementia
July 26, 2018 by 4 Comments
No Cognitive Benefit from Heart Drugs in HOPE-3
November 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
–Substudy finds mental function unimproved by BP, cholesterol treatments NEW ORLEANS — A large substudy of the HOPE-3 trial found no benefit relating to cognitive function in patients who took cholesterol or blood pressure-lowering drugs. In recent years cognitive decline and dementia have emerged as a concern equal if not even greater than cardiovascular disease…
Flu Vaccine May Benefit Heart Failure Patients
May 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
–Studies find fewer hospitalizations and less dementia after vaccination Two new observational studies offer new evidence that heart failure patients may benefit from the flu vaccine. The studies were presented in Florence, Italy, at the Heart Failure 2016 and the 3rd World Congress on Acute Heart Failure. In the first study Kazem Rahimi (University of…
AF Patients at Increased Risk for Silent Strokes
November 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The increased risk of stroke in people with atrial fibrillation (AF) is well known, and this stroke risk is, of course, linked to an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Less well known is that people with AF have an increased risk for cognitive impairment independent of their stroke risk. Now a new study published…
Possible Cognitive Benefits Found In Dementia Patients Taking Centrally Acting ACE Inhibitors
July 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
An observational study from Ireland raises the intriguing possibility that certain blood pressure lowering drugs, centrally acting ACE inhibitors, may help slow the cognitive decline that is a hallmark of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The study, published in BMJ Open, followed the rates of cognitive decline in 3 groups of patients: dementia patients being treated…
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