Midlife hypertension was not associated with executive function or verbal memory at age 90+, but was associated with poorer semantic memory, suggesting it 'may have sustained impact on learning and memory in those aged 90+'.
Midlife hypertension was not associated with executive function at age 90+.
Midlife hypertension was not associated with verbal memory at age 90+.
Midlife hypertension was associated with poorer semantic memory at age 90+.
LifeAfter90 (LA90) is an ethnoracially diverse cohort of individuals aged 90+ linked to midlife health records.
Stabilized inverse probability of censoring weights were used to make the LA90 sample representative of the broader MHC population.
This research suggests that having high blood pressure (hypertension) in middle age may be linked to worse semantic memory — the ability to recall facts, concepts, and general knowledge — in people who reach age 90 and beyond. The study followed over 300 racially and ethnically diverse individuals aged 90+ whose midlife health records were available, allowing researchers to look back at whether they had hypertension decades earlier. Statistical methods were used to make the study sample more representative of the broader population from which they were drawn, addressing the fact that not everyone lives to 90 or agrees to participate in research. The study found that midlife hypertension was not significantly associated with two other areas of thinking — executive function (planning and problem-solving) or verbal memory (recalling words or stories) — at age 90+. However, people with midlife hypertension tended to score lower on semantic memory tests, suggesting a potential lasting impact of high blood pressure on this specific type of memory even into very old age. The confidence interval for the semantic memory finding included zero, meaning the result was not statistically significant by conventional standards, but the direction of the association was consistent. This research matters because most studies on hypertension and cognitive decline focus on people in their 60s, 70s, or 80s, leaving a gap in knowledge about the 'oldest-old' — those aged 90 and above. By using population-representative methods and linking current cognitive assessments to historical health records, this study provides a more generalizable look at how a common midlife condition may shape brain health across the entire lifespan. The findings suggest that the effects of midlife hypertension on certain aspects of memory may persist into extreme old age.
Colbeth H, Roscoe J, Corrada M, Meunier C, George K, Glymour M, et al.. (2026). Midlife hypertension and late-life cognition: weighting the LifeAfter90 study.. Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.71544