The association between the prevalence, treatment and control of hypertension and the risk of mild cognitive impairment in an elderly urban population in China

It remains unclear whether lowering the blood pressure effectively prevents cognitive impairment. The aim of the current study was to explore the association between the prevalence, treatment and control of hypertension and the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among elderly Chinese people. This is a cross-sectional study conducted in Beijing, China. A two-stage stratified clustering sampling method was used, and 2065 participants, aged ⩾60 years, were included in the analysis. The Mini-Mental State Examination was used to assess participants’ cognitive function. The prevalence of MCI was higher in hypertensive (16.5%) than in normotensive individuals (13.1%; P =0.043). Furthermore, in those hypertensive patients, the prevalence of MCI was lower in those treated (14.9%) than in those not treated (19.9%; P =0.019) and lower in those controlled (13.4%) than in those uncontrolled (17.9%; P =0.042). The adjusted odds ratio (OR; 95% confidence interval (CI)) of having MCI was 1.59 (1.07–2.35) in those with hypertension compared with those normotensive individuals. The assessment of the hypertensive patients revealed the adjusted OR (95% CI) of having MCI in those with treated hypertension was 0.60 (0.42–0.86) compared with those untreated hypertension, and in those with controlled hypertension was 0.64 (0.43–0.93) compared with those non-controlled hypertension (regardless of treatment). However, among the treated hypertensive patients, there was no difference in the prevalence of MCI between the patients who reached and those who did not reach their treatment goal. We suggest that improved diagnoses and optimal therapeutics are needed to achieve the aim of cognitive decline prevention.