New Delhi, Oct 31 || Older adults whose blood pressure fluctuates widely may indicate a greater risk of brain shrinkage and nerve cell injury, according to a new study.
The study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, reveals that short-term “dynamic instability” in blood pressure -- moment-to-moment changes measured over just minutes -- is linked to loss of brain tissue in regions critical for memory and cognition, as well as to blood biomarkers of nerve cell damage.
“Our findings show that even when average blood pressure is normal, instability from one heartbeat to the next may place stress on the brain,” said Daniel Nation, from the University of Southern California’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.
“These moment-to-moment swings appear to be associated with the same kinds of brain changes we see in early neurodegeneration,” added the Professor of Gerontology and Medicine.