Adolescents with high blood pressure or arterial stiffness may have poorer cognitive function, a new study finds.
- Adolescents with high blood pressure or arterial stiffness may have poorer cognitive function.
- Hypertension was linked to poorer attention and learning abilities and overall cognition in adolescents.
- Arterial stiffness was associated with poorer working memory.
There are countless scientific studies that show that poor arterial health promotes cognitive decline in adults. But young people are not immune either, according to Finnish research from the Universities of Jyväskylä and Eastern Finland.
Researchers have, in fact, found that higher blood pressure is associated with poorer cognitive function in adolescence.
Blood pressure impacts teens’ brain health
To determine the impact of high blood pressure on the adolescent brain, the team took data from a study called PANIC that followed children’s physical activity and nutrition for eight years. A total of 116 adolescents (45 girls and 71 boys) participated, with an average age of 15.9 years. Their heart health, including blood pressure and pulse wave, was assessed. They also took tests to gauge their cognitive skills (working memory, learning ability and attention).
Analysis of the collected data revealed that adolescents with higher blood pressure had poorer attention and learning abilities as well as poorer overall cognition than other children. A higher pulse wave velocity, an indicator of arterial stiffness, was – in turn – associated with poorer working memory.
Heart problems did not have quite the same impact depending on the sex of the adolescent. “Girls with higher blood pressure demonstrated a negative association with a broader range of cognitive functions than boys. Conversely, boys with higher arterial stiffness displayed better attention span and working memory.”add the authors in their communicated.
Hypertension should be prevented early
“Our results highlight the importance of preventing high blood pressure and arterial stiffness to promote cognitive and brain health in young people. However, we observed conflicting associations.”explains doctoral student Petri Jalanko, who worked on the study presented in the journal Physiological Reports.
If this research gives “an overview of how blood pressure and arterial stiffness are related to cognitive function” At a young age, the team believes that further trials are needed to establish a definitive cause-and-effect relationship between arterial health and brain health during adolescence, and calls for further studies to be conducted.
