Health
Hypertension drugs may thwart Alzheimer's disease
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted May 21, 2007
ACE inhibitors that cross the blood-brain barrier may protect older adults from declines in memory and other cognitive function, according to researchers who presented their findings May 5 at the annual meeting of the American Geriatrics Society in Seattle.
Those centrally acting ACE inhibitors were thought to reduce the inflammation that may contribute to Alzheimer's disease. "For older adults who are going to take an ACE inhibitor drug for blood pressure control, it makes sense for their doctors to prescribe one that goes into the brain," said Kaycee Sink, MD, lead researcher and an assistant professor of internal medicine-gerontology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The researchers analyzed data from the Cardiovascular Health Study, a long-term study of cardiovascular risk factors that involved 5,888 people older than 65 from various locations across the country. They specifically looked at 1,074 study participants who were free of dementia when they entered the study and who were being treated for high blood pressure.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/05/21/hlbf0521.htm.
