MRI shows influence of hypertension on cerebral small vessel disease

Researchers have used MRI to illuminate the effects of hypertension on cerebral small vessel disease-related brain structures, finding that these effects differ by patient sex and age at diagnosis.The results could help tailor patient care, wrote a team led by PhD candidate Amanpreet Kaur of McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada. The group's results were published on December 19 in Hypertension."Our findings demonstrate the significance of how age at hypertension diagnosis affects cerebrovascular health differentially in males and females via small vessel disease … [and could] help identify sex-specific neuroimaging biomarkers that can inform clinical practice and public health guidelines in the management of hypertension and brain structural changes, which could lead to cognitive decline later in life," the team noted.Previous research has shown that an individual's age at hypertension diagnosis can contribute to structural brain changes associated with cerebral small vessel disease, it wrote."Younger age at onset of hypertension, independent of blood pressure control, is predictive of cognitive decline and increased vascular dementia risk in later life," the group explained. "Moreover, high blood pressure in early adulthood and into midlife is associated with late life reductions in brain volume and white matter hyperintensities, as measured by MRI, both of which are hallmarks of cerebral small vessel disease."Yet whether high blood pressure's effects on cog...
Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines - Category: Radiology Authors: Tags: Subspecialties Cardiovascular Radiology Source Type: news