Led by Johns Hopkins, an analysis of data previously collected on more than 3,000 elderly Americans strongly suggests that some blood pressure medications might lower the risk of dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.

According to a recently published report, a team of researchers has discovered that people over the age of 75 with normal cognition that used diuretics, angiotensin-1 receptor blockers (ARBs) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors demonstrated a lower risk of Alzheimer’s related dementia by at least 50 percent. Additionally, diuretics were linked with a 50 percent reduced risk in those with mild cognitive impairment. However, beta blockers and calcium channel blockers did not reveal a link to a lowered risk.

“Identifying new pharmacological treatments to prevent or delay the onset of AD dementia is critical given the dearth of effective interventions to date,” says the author, Sevil Yasar, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine in the Department of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Our study was able to replicate previous findings, however, we were also able to show that the beneficial effect of these blood pressure medications are maybe in addition to blood pressure control, and could help clinicians in selecting an antihypertensive medication based not only on blood pressure control, but also on additional benefits.”

Yasar and her colleagues reviewed 2,248 subjects, of which 351 reported use of a diuretic, 140 use of ARBs, 324 use of ACE inhibitors, 333 use of calcium channel blockers and 457 use of beta blockers. The average age of the reviewed group was 78.7 years, and 47 percent of the group were women.

“We were able to confirm previous suggestions of a protective effect of some of these medicines not only in participants with normal cognition, but also in those with mild cognitive impairment,” Yasar said.

“Additionally, we were also able to assess the possible role of elevated systolic blood pressure in AD dementia by placing those within each medication group in categories above and below systolic blood pressures of 140 mmHg, the standard cut-off reading for a diagnosis of hypertension,” she said.

This report appears in a recent edition of the journal Neurology.