The University of New South Wales

FRIDAY, Sept. 6, 2024 -- Sports concussions in older nonprofessional athletes are not linked to any negative long-term cognitive effects, according to a study published online Sept. 4 in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry . Matthew Joseph Lennon, Ph.D., from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and colleagues assessed the cognitive effects of sports-related concussion (SRC) in nonathletes. The analysis included 15,214 U.K. community-dwelling adults (aged 50 to 90 years) followed annually for four years. The researchers found that at baseline, the SRC group had significantly better working memory (B = 0.113) and verbal reasoning (B = 0.199) versus those without concussion. Additionally, those who had suffered one SRC at baseline had significantly better verbal reasoning (B = 0.111) and attention (B = 0.115) versus those with no SRC at baseline. However, participants with three or more non-SRCs had significantly worse processing speed (B = −0.082) and attention (B = −0.156), as well as a significantly worse trajectory of verbal reasoning with increasing age (B = −0.088). "While these results do not indicate the safety of any sport in particular, they do indicate that overall sports may have greater beneficial effects for long-term cognitive health than the damage it causes, even in those who have experienced concussion," Lennon said in a statement. Abstract/Full Text Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

THURSDAY, Aug. 15, 2024 -- Untreated high blood pressure in your 60s could raise your risk for Alzheimer's disease later, new research shows. The good news: Simple steps can ease hypertension, researchers said. The global study found that "taking blood pressure medications was associated with decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease throughout later life,” said study lead author Dr. Matthew Lennon , of the University of New South Wales in Australia. “These results suggest that treating high blood pressure as a person ages continues to be a crucial factor in reducing their risk of Alzheimer’s disease.” The findings were published Aug. 14 in the journal Neurology . As Lennon explained in a journal news release, "taking blood pressure medications has also been found in previous research to reduce a person’s risk of dementias overall, but less is known about how blood pressure affects a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease." Trying to answer that question, his team conducted a "meta-analysis" of data on more than 31,000 people who had been in 14 studies that measured cognitive change and dementia diagnosis over time. Participants came from the United States, but also from a large number of diverse nationalities around the world. A total of 1,415 cases of Alzheimer's disease were diagnosed among the group over an average follow-up of four years. Overall, 9% of participants were found to have untreated high blood pressure, the researchers said. Another "51% were taking blood pressure medications, 36% did not have high blood pressure and 4% were noted as uncertain," according to the news release. Folks with untreated high blood pressure had a 36% higher risk of going on to get Alzheimer's, Lennon's team found, compared to folks with healthy blood pressure. And they had a 42% higher risk for Alzheimer's compared to folks who were already on a blood pressure medication. “High blood pressure is a leading cause of stroke and cerebrovascular disease, and yet it can be controlled with medication, reducing a person’s risk of these diseases,” Lennon noted. The study was designed to show an association between hypertension and dementia risk, so it could not prove cause-and-effect. Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 14, 2024 -- Individuals with treated hypertension have a reduced risk for Alzheimer dementia (AD) compared with those with untreated hypertension, according to research published online Aug. 14 in Neurology . Matthew J. Lennon, M.D., from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and colleagues examined whether previous hypertension or antihypertensive use modifies AD or non-AD (all-cause dementia) risk in late life in an individual participant data meta-analysis that included community-based longitudinal studies of aging. The risks for developing AD and non-AD were examined as the main outcomes, while the main exposures were hypertension history/antihypertensive use and baseline systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP). The analysis included 31,250 participants (mean baseline age, 72 years) from 14 nations. The researchers found that compared with healthy controls and those with treated hypertension, participants with untreated hypertension had a significantly increased risk for AD (hazard ratios, 1.36 and 1.42, respectively). Both those with treated and untreated hypertension had greater non-AD risk compared with healthy controls (hazard ratios, 1.29 and 1.69, respectively), with no difference seen between the treated and untreated groups. In an analysis restricted to those with five-year follow-up, baseline BP had a significant U-shaped relationship with non-AD risk, but there were no other relationships seen between baseline BP and AD or non-AD risk. "Throughout late life those with treated hypertension had a lower risk of AD compared with those with untreated hypertension, suggesting that antihypertensive use should be part of any AD prevention strategy even in late life," the authors write. Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.