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The association of blood pressure with physical frailty and cognitive function in community-dwelling septuagenarians, octogenarians, and nonagenarians: the SONIC study

Abstract

We investigated the association of systolic blood pressure (SBP) level with physical frailty and cognitive function in community-dwelling older Japanese. Using the ‘Septuagenarians, Octogenarians, Nonagenarians Investigation with Centenarians’ survey as the baseline, we performed a cross-sectional analysis of people aged 70 ± 1 (n = 1000), 80 ± 1 (n = 978), and 90 ± 1 (n = 272) years. Medical histories and medications were collected via interviews conducted by medical professionals. Blood pressure (BP), grip strength, gait speed, and cognitive function were examined on site. Trend analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to determine the association of the SBP level with physical frailty and cognitive function. The principal finding was that the association of SBP with physical frailty and cognitive function varied depending on characteristics such as age, physical and cognitive function, and antihypertensive medication use. A lower SBP level was associated with a higher prevalence of physical frailty only among 80-year-olds who were on antihypertensive medication. A significant association was found between higher SBP and lower cognitive function among 70-year-olds, while among 90-year-olds, the opposite was found. No association was found among participants who were 80 years old or among participants of all ages without antihypertensive medication. Our finding that an inverted association between SBP and geriatric syndrome exists suggests that the treatment of older patients must be individualized to prevent geriatric syndrome.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all SONIC participants who participated in these studies. We appreciate all the staff involved in the SONIC study, especially Yumiko Aoshima, Tae Matsue, and Yasuyo Takamine for their secretarial work and support.

The members of the SONIC Study Group

Toshiaki Sekiguchi10, Kentaro Tanaka10, Kazuya Taira10, Tomoko Noma10, Werayuth Srithumsuk10, Nonglak Klinpudtan10, Naoko Wada10, Atsuko Higuchi10, Serina Yokoyama11, Satomi Maeda11, Motonori Nagasawa11, Taku Fujimoto11, Shinichi Sato12, Yoshiko Ishioka13, Megumi Tabuchi14, Kennichi Matsuda15, Taiji Ogawa15, Masahiro Kitamura15, and Yoshinobu Maeda15

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Correspondence to Mai Kabayama.

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M.K. received a grant (16K12336, 19K11138), and K.K. has received a grant (15K08910, 19K07888) from JSPS KAKENHI.

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Kabayama, M., Kamide, K., Gondo, Y. et al. The association of blood pressure with physical frailty and cognitive function in community-dwelling septuagenarians, octogenarians, and nonagenarians: the SONIC study. Hypertens Res 43, 1421–1429 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-020-0499-9

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