The Study
Intensive blood pressure lowering prevents mild cognitive impairment and possible dementia and slows development of white matter lesions in brain: the SPRINT Memory and Cognition IN Decreased Hypertension (SPRINT MIND) study
This study is like a fair test where some people got extra medicine to lower their blood pressure and others didn’t. The researchers saw who had more memory problems later. Because they randomly picked who got what, we can guess the medicine might have helped — but we’re not 100% sure because we don’t know if everyone was blinded.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
This study looked at whether pushing blood pressure very low helps prevent memory problems and brain changes as people age.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 535 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — this suggests keeping blood pressure very low might help older adults avoid early memory loss and brain aging.
- 2People with high blood pressure who were treated to keep systolic pressure below 120 mm Hg had fewer memory problems and slower brain damage than those with standard treatment.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Blood Pressure
Year
2018
Authors
S. Kjeldsen, K. Narkiewicz, M. Burnier, S. Oparil
Related Content
Claims (4)
For frail individuals, aiming for a systolic blood pressure of 120 mm Hg does not improve health outcomes and can lead to adverse effects.
In adults with high blood pressure and high cardiovascular risk, lowering systolic blood pressure to below 120 mm Hg reduces the occurrence of mild cognitive impairment and possible dementia, and slows the worsening of white matter damage in the brain.
In adults with high blood pressure and increased heart disease risk, lowering systolic blood pressure below 120 mm Hg reduces the incidence of mild cognitive impairment and possible dementia compared to standard blood pressure targets.
In adults with high blood pressure and high cardiovascular risk, lowering systolic blood pressure to below 120 mm Hg reduces the rate at which white matter lesions in the brain worsen over time.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.