Research conducted at National University of Ireland Galway has shown that lowering blood pressure by taking blood pressure medications reduces the risk of developing dementia and cognitive impairment by 7%.

The findings of the review were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and assessed evidence across 14 randomised controlled trials and 96,000 participants.

Dr Conor Judge, joint first author, commented “when you consider how common dementia is in the population (50 million people worldwide), effective treatment and control of hypertension would have a major impact on preventing dementia. Our findings emphasize the need for more effective screening, prevention, and treatment of hypertension”.

Dr Michelle Canavan, senior author of the paper, also said “the message from this study is simple: Get your blood pressure checked. If it is high, it can be readily treated with lifestyle changes and medications”.