Findings from phase 3 of the China Rural Hypertension Control Project (CRHC), led by cardiologist Yingxian Sun, M.D., Ph.D., of First Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang were published in Nature Medicine on April 21.
Patients with uncontrolled hypertension from 326 villages were split into two groups; 163 villages received usual hypertension care, while the other 163 received intensive treatment for blood pressure (BP) reduction. In the intensive treatment group, 4.59% of patients had developed dementia after four years, compared to 5.4% in the group receiving usual treatment.
In a secondary measure, 17.2% of patients in the intensive BP lowering group developed cognitive impairment without meeting the criteria for dementia (CIND), compared to 20.7% of those receiving usual care.
According to the authors, “Reduction in BP was associated with a 15% lower risk of all-cause dementia and a 16% lower risk of CIND. The CRHCP-3 trial provides strong evidence for the effectiveness of antihypertensive treatment in reducing the risk of dementia in patients with hypertension.”
Many past studies have been observational, or only measured dementia risk as a secondary outcome. In comparison, phase 3 of the CRHC is instead a randomised trial specifically designed to test the effect of lowering BP on dementia risk.
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