Effect of antihypertensive treatment on the behavioral consequences of elevated blood pressure.

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Abstract
It was shown in a prior study that mildly hypertensive patients performed significantly less effectively on several sensory-perceptual, cognitive and psychomotor tests than did matched normotensive controls. To determine whether these deficits are attributable to elevated blood pressure per se, hypertensive and control subjects were recalled for reexamination 15 mo. after the original tests. Those hypertensives in whom blood pressure had been lowered with antihypertensive drugs showed significant restoration of performance scores toward the levels of normotensive subjects. Hypertensives who had not received active treatment remained deficient as compared with controls. Behavioral deficits in mild hypertensive may be reversible consequences of the effects of elevated blood pressure on the CNS.