title: [The association of duration of hypertension and changes in cognitive function in hypertension patients].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between duration of hypertension and cognitive function in adult hypertension patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 224 subjects with normal blood pressure were enrolled in group A, and 1 296 patients with poorly controlled hypertension were further divided by the duration of hypertension into group B ( ≤ 5 years), group C (6-10 years), group D (11-20 years) and group E (> 20 years). Face-to-face surveys were conducted in all the subjects by trained physicians using Mini-Mental-State-Examination (MMSE) and Clock-Drawing-Test (CDT). The incidences of cognitive impairment were compared among the five groups and the relationship between duration of hypertension and cognitive function were analyzed by SPSS 18.0 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1)Compared with the normotensive group, the hypertensive group performed worse in the scores of MMSE, CDTs, the memory type cognitive function and the non-memory type cognitive function (MMSE:Z = -2.585, P = 0.010; CDTs:Z = -3.689, P < 0.001; memory type cognitive function:Z = -2.718, P = 0.007; non-memory type cognitive function: Z = -1.994, P = 0.046). (2) The incidences of cognitive impairment in the five groups were 3.6% (8/224), 6.6% (26/393), 16.6% (72/433), 19.7% (55/279) and 33.5% (64/191), respectively. (3) Compared with the group A, the cognitive function was significantly worse in the group E (MMSE:Z = 61.314, P < 0.001; CDTs: Z = 44.642, P < 0.001; memory type cognitive function:Z = 35.703, P < 0.001; non-memory type cognitive function:Z = 54.440, P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hypertension is a risk factor for the cognitive dysfunction. The incidence of cognitive dysfunction and the severity are positively associated with the duration of hypertension. In those with hypertension over 20 years, the cognitive dysfunction occurs much more obviously.
authors.forename: Tuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Junwu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Changzheng Hospital, Shanghai 200003, China. Email: zhaozxn@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhongxin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003071:Cognition; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors