Blood pressure control for optimal brain health: a systematic literature review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Background Hypertension, a leading modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline, negatively affects cerebral vasculature, particularly in regions critical for executive function. The relationship between blood pressure (BP) changes and brain (physical, mental, and social) health remains unclear. Method This systematic review and meta‐analysis, adhering to PRISMA guidelines, explored the association between blood pressure control and brain health outcomes – specifically, cognitive and executive dysfunction, stroke, and post‐stroke dementia. PubMed and Embase were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies published up to January 2025. Eligible studies included those assessing patients with or without interventions aimed at regular blood pressure control. Data extraction was performed independently by two reviewers, and the risk of bias in included studies was assessed using validated tools. A random‐effects model was employed to pool effect sizes. Heterogeneity was quantified using the I 2 statistic, while publication bias was examined with funnel plots and Egger's test. Result After screening 5049 citations, 382 studies were selected for data extraction and analysis. Our preliminary analysis suggests that both high systolic blood pressure and low diastolic blood pressure may negatively impact brain health and cognitive performance. Ongoing analyses will examine the effects of blood pressure fluctuations across different life stages and explore the impact of antihypertensive drugs on mental well‐being, cognitive abilities, and cerebral imaging results. Conclusion This systematic review and meta‐analysis underscore the potential benefit of targeted blood pressure interventions for improving cognitive function, mental health, and overall quality of life. These findings provide a basis for future research and emphasize the importance of developing strategies to optimize health‐related quality of life (HRQL) through effective blood pressure management.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.009 | 0.038 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.011 | 0.011 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.008 | 0.008 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.003 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.005 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".