NEW research provides compelling evidence for clinical practice to direct efforts toward preventing white matter damage in patients with hypertension, to help protect against cognitive decline and dementia.
High blood pressure has a negative effect on many aspects of health and is also known to affect both the grey and white matter in the brain during the ageing process.
Grey matter is where the brain cells exist, whereas white matter constitutes the network of nerve fibres that provides the communication connection between different areas of grey matter.
The Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing study, led by Dr Jing Du and A/Prof Wei Wen and published today in Hypertension, suggested that compared with grey matter, white matter is more vulnerable to raised blood pressure.
"Because grey matter has a greater amount of small blood vessels, and therefore a greater supply of blood compared to white matter, we wanted to see if white matter is more susceptible to damage from reduced blood flow caused by high blood pressure," said Du.
The findings suggest that memory and thinking problems are more likely to occur as a result of high blood pressure's impact on white matter.
"Managing blood pressure effectively could help protect against cognitive decline and future efforts should focus on monitoring and managing white matter health in people with high blood pressure."
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 11 Mar 24
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 11 Mar 24
