[Hypertension and dementia].

The association between hypertension and dementia has received much attention in epidemiological research. However, the results from observational longitudinal studies and randomized control trials addressing the effects of hypertension on the risks of dementia and its subtypes are still inconclusive. The Hisayama Study, which is a prospective cohort study conducted in a Japanese community, demonstrated that people with midlife hypertension were at an increasing risk of late-life onset of vascular dementia, regardless of late-life blood pressure levels, whereas such associations were not observed for Alzheimer's disease. These findings suggest the clinical value of the early management of midlife hypertension to reduce the risk of late-life dementia. Further investigation would be needed to elucidate these issues.