Feeling Faint While Standing Up Linked With Dementia Risk Study

1. FEELING FAINT WHILE STANDING UP LINKED WITH DEMENTIA RISK: STUDY Any sudden drop in blood pressure in middle-aged people, which makes them feel faint, dizzy or light-headed while standing up, could be a sign of increased risk of dementia or stroke later, say researchers. The findings suggested that people who experienced the blood pressure drop — known as orthostatic hypotension — had a 54 per cent higher risk of developing dementia.

2. They were also found to be at two times higher risk of developing ischemic stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel carrying blood to the brain is blocked by a blood clot. “Orthostatic hypotension has been linked to heart disease, fainting and falls, so we wanted to conduct a large study to determine if this form of low blood pressure was also linked to problems in the brain, specifically dementia,” said Andreea Rawlings, from the Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, US. For the study, published in the journal Neurology, the team analysed data from 11,709 people with an average age of 54 years, who were followed for an average of 25 years. The participants were instructed to lie down for 20 minutes and then stand up in a smooth, swift motion….READ FULL STORY