High Blood Pressure Linked to Signs of Alzheimer's, According to Study The study examined the relationship between blood pressure and the two most common causes of stroke and dementia. Those two causes are brain legions and the signature biomarker of Alzheimer's disease: the plaques and tangles in the brain. The study found that older people with higher-than-average blood pressure have more markers of brain disease than their average-pressure peers. Autopsied brains also revealed that higher-than-average blood pressure is associated with the Alzheimer's disease biomarker.
Higher-than-average blood pressure is considered anything above 140/90. The first number, the systolic pressure, reflects the pressure in vessels when the heart beats. The second number, diastolic, measures when the heart is at rest. According to analysis, a systolic blood pressure of 147 translated to a 46% increased risk of having one or more brain lesions. People with a diastolic pressure of 79 had a 28% greater risk of one or more lesions.