Hypertension and Cognitive Decline in Male Elderly

Abstract

There is a high prevalence of hypertension in elderly. Patients with long duration hypertension will suffer from vascular structure damage including brain vessel. Chronic disturbance in brain vascularization will lead to cognitive decline. This research aimed to assess the association between hypertension and cognitive decline in elderly. Sixty male elderly (60-75 years old) from posyandu lansia in Surakarta were involved in this research. They were divided into 2 groups, hypertensive and normotensive, each group consisted of 30 subjects. Subjects with a history of head injury, intracranial tumor, and cerebrovascular disease were excluded from this study. Hypertension status was obtained from the medical record. Hypertension level was based on Joint National Committee VII ( JNC VII). Cognitive function was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-INA). The mean age was 65.73±4.07 years old in the hypertensive group and 65.17±3.16 years old in normotensive group. There were significant differences in total MoCA-INA scores between hypertensive and normotensive (22±4.28 versus 24±5.56, p <0.01). Hypertension level had a negative correlation with total MoCA-INA score (r = 0.318, p <0.01). We conclude that cognitive function in elderly with hypertension is lower than normotensive. Hypertension level has a strong correlation with cognitive decline in elderly.