Back in August, I wrote about the possible link between centrally acting angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and risk for dementia. Which of course raises the question about the existence of a link between non-centrally acting ACE inhibitors and dementia risk. Then you could expand to ask whether the
cousin class, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), show any benefit, after which you could apply the same query to other medications. Judging by the title to this post, I would like to direct your attention to a
prospective, community-based cohort study published last month in Neurology in which the
authors linked beta blocker use to a lower risk of developing cognitive impairment.
To arrive at their conclusion, the authors followed for close to 6 years 854 men average 77yo at study entry to the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. All participants had hypertension but were without dementia or any cognitive impairment at baseline. Those who were taking beta blockers had a 31% lower risk of developing cognitive impairment compared to those who didn't take any blood pressure medication. So perhaps the benefit was due to lowering of hypertensive blood pressure? However, in contradiction to previous studies, use of ACE inhibitors alone was not linked to benefit, nor were diuretics, calcium channel blockers, or vasodilators.
Two steps forward, one step back, right? Was this study a fluke or a trend? You decide after reviewing the earlier studies. But more importantly, does this study apply to you? Perhaps if you're an elder male of Japanese heritage as were these participants. On the other hand, you might take a look at the bigger picture, which is that blood pressure lowering in general appears to be a good thing.
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