The objectives of the study were to: i) investigate what aspects of working memory if any are impaired in untreated hypertension, and ii) establish if any impairments are resolved or persist after successful antihypertensive treatment. Working memory abilities were assessed in 10 patients with a recent diagnosis of hypertension who had not yet commenced treatment, and 7 patients after successful treatment. A matched comparison group of normotensive individuals from the same GP surgery was also tested.
Significant deficits in verbal working memory were found in the hypertensive group relative to the normotensive group both before and after antihypertensive treatment. Pre-treatment systolic blood pressure was highly correlated with working memory performance. These cognitive deficits may reflect permanent damage to the frontal regions of the brain that serve working memory, caused either by lengthy periods of untreated hypertension or blood pressure levels that although elevated, fail to meet current diagnostic criteria.
It is proposed that the presence of impaired working memory may therefore identify the need to review thresholds for BP treatment, and the potential value of combining low working memory scores with elevated blood pressure values as markers for cardiovascular risk.
Project partners:
Professor Susan Gathercole (University of York)
Dr Ahmet Fuat (Integrated Health Care Research, University of Durham)
Dr Jerry Murphy (Co. Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals, University of Durham)
Dr Elizabeth Littlewood (York)
Ms Barbara Conway (Darlington PCT).
