Age-related effects of blood pressure on everyday cognitive function in community-dwelling women

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Blood pressure is an indicator of vascular health that has been associated with cognition and quality of life in older age. Few studies have examined blood pressure across everyday cognitive tasks, which may have superior predictive functional utility than traditional cognitive measures. We explored blood pressure as a predictor of everyday problem solving (EPS) performance in middle-aged and older women. Method: Community-dwelling women (age: 51–91) with low-normal blood pressure to mild hypertension underwent traditional and everyday cognitive testing. EPS was determined by the number of safe/effective solutions generated for real-world scenarios. Results: Analyses revealed that lower systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure were associated with worse EPS ability after controlling for age, education, and traditional cognitive abilities. Discussion: These results support that blood pressure may be an important predictor of everyday cognitive abilities in older age. Potential implications for real-world functioning are discussed.

Keywords:

• Cognitive aging
• Blood pressure
• Everyday problem solving
• Hypertension
• Women

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant awarded to Dr Wendy Loken Thornton. Sophie E. Yeung was supported by a SSHRC Master's Canada Graduate Scholarship. Many thanks to Dr. Allen Thornton for his comments on previous drafts of the manuscript. The authors extend their gratitude to members of the SFU Cognitive Aging lab for assistance with data collection, the participants of the study, and the staff of the various community centers that generously provided testing space.