Sex Differences in the Association Between Blood Pressure and Cognitive Aging Trajectories Among U.S Hispanic/Latino Adults

Poster Session C - Sunday, April 14, 2024, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Carlos Araujo Menendez¹ (cearaujo@health.ucsd.edu), Armando Lemus², Shaun Goycoochea², Rubi Carpio², Rachel Membreno², Ariana Stickel²; ¹SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, ²San Diego State University, Department of Psychology

Increased blood pressure is associated with cognitive decline. However, few studies have examined sex differences in the associations between blood pressure and cognitive aging trajectories in U.S. Hispanic/Latino adults. Participants included 1,075 Hispanic/Latino adults without dementia, ages 41-104 years (mean=71.95 years, SD=8.0), from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center collected 2015-2022 from 33 sites. Three sets of mixed-effects regression models were built to assess the interactive effect of baseline blood pressure variables [e.g., pulse pressure (PP), systolic (SYS), and diastolic (DIAS) blood pressure] and sex on longitudinal changes in cognition (global, immediate and delayed episodic memory, verbal fluency, processing speed, attention, working memory, and language). All models were adjusted for age at baseline, years of education, cognitive status, language preference, Hispanic/Latino heritage, body max index, apolipoprotein E4 carrier status, and hypercholesteremia. Our results showed two significant 3-way interactions indicating sex differences in the associations between blood pressure variables and cognitive trajectories (Fs≥5.634, ps≤0.01). Specifically, compared to women, men with higher PP and SYS experienced a greater decline in global cognition (β= -0.014, p=0.018) and attention (β= -0.007, p=0.011) over time, respectively. No significant interactions of DIAS by sex were found. Our results suggest that men may be more susceptible to cognitive decline at higher levels of blood pressure than women. These findings are consistent with recent work that observed greater age-related differences in brain volumes among Hispanic/Latino men compared to women. Future studies should elucidate the mechanisms driving sex differences in the associations between blood pressure and cognitive aging trajectories.

Topic Area: OTHER