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Show The Park Record P:Wed/Thurs/Fri, January 5-7, 2005 A-13 Decreased mental function related to high blood pressure The Way We Were Young people with high blood pressure are just as susceptible to decreased mental function as are elderly people with high blood pressure, according to a study reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. Several studies have shown that high blood pressure, or hypertension, correlates with poorer cognitive performance in older adults. This study found that higher blood pressure was linked to a decline in cognitive function in otherwise healthy people 18 to 46 years of age, as well as those who were older. Some participants in the study were followed for almost 20 years, making it one of the longest studies of blood pressure's effects on cognitive performance. Early, aggressive efforts to prevent and treat hypertension regardless of a patient's age is needed, said co-author Merrill F. EHas, Ph.D., MPH, professor of psychology and professor of epidemiology in the department of independent studies at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. "We need to be concerned about blood pressure effects on cognitive performance in older people, but we also need to be concerned about the relationship between blood pressure over time and the change in cognition in younger people," he said. Most previous data has come from studies involving middleaged and older individuals, and many studies based their results on relatively few evaluations of cognitive function, said Elias. "The study also was prospective in that we looked at baseline blood pressure and related it to cognitive function over many years. A number of other studies have just looked at blood pressure at one point in middle-aged people and they found that blood pressure correlated with cognitive function at some later point in time." The current study involved 529 participants in the Main-Syracuse Longitudinal Study of Hypertension, whose first patients were enrolled in 1976-77. Blood pressure was evaluated at baseline and during up to four follow-up visits. Participants underwent a standardized test of cognitive function at baseline and at each follow-up. For data analysis, the participants were divided into two age groups: 18 to 46 years and 47 to 83 years. \.r COURTESY PARK CITY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM, FRASER BUCK COLLECTION School lor upper-enders By Hal Compton, research historian Park City Museum In !<SS7. the original three-room Jefferson School with Us distinctive bell Unver was built near St. \f;ins Catholic Church on upper Park Avenue (photo). It joined the Washington School on lower Park Avenue in serving^!)!) Park City children. In 1896, the Lincoln School was completed as the third elementary school. It was inevitable that a friendly rivalry would de\elop and it did. Students at Iclierson School were called Lipper-ender^ and those at the Lincoln School were called lowcr-cndcrs. By 1891, it was apfKueiil.Uiat \\\v ihree rooms of the old Jefferson School were not adequate for the increasing enrollment and a new larger building was designed and construction- begun on the site ol ihe old school. When completed, it was described in The Park Record'as "a mark of progressiveness, an ornament and a thing of beauty in the heart of the best mining city in Utah or the West." The building measured 75 feet long, 68 feet wide, containing three floors besides the sub-basement. The new Jefferson (inset) contained 10 classrooms, numerous cloakrooms and the most modern plumbing and heating systems. It also had a bell tower. When the Marsac Elementary School was completed in 1936, the three older schools were closed. The Lincoln School was.-demolished and the Jefferson was used by the Miners Union for meetings and socials before moving into its own headquarters on Main Street. The Veterans of Foreign Wars purchased the Washington School as a meeting hall, but when they could no longer pay the taxes, it was abandoned. Today, it is the Washington School Bed & Breakfast.' In 1961. the demolition of the Jefferson School began and two local enterprising young men. Mason Smith and Blaine Jolly, purchased the salvage rights to the brick and timber. They used it to construct Park City's first drive-in restaurant, the Snow Palace at the bottom of Main Street (where the Silver Queen Hotel stands today). The original plan was for the Jefferson School site to became a parking lot, but that changed and the bottom floor was retained as part of the Jefferson House Condominiums. The Marsac School is now the Citv Hall. In both age groups, the analysis showed that, over time, higher blood pressure correlated with a decline in the cognitive function known as "visualization/fluid abilities" -- the ability to react and respond to novel information, Elias said. "As an example, you might be presented with some relatively complex visual material that you've not seen before and have to organize it in a certain way or remember the relationships among items in the material," he said. "Using the 7th report JNC [Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure] classifications, moving from the 'Normal' blood pressure to the 'Stage 1 Hypertensive' classification (two steps) results in an estimated 8.12 percent decrease in visualization/fluid abilities over 20 years." The other functions tested -verbal, memory and speed abilities were not related to cognitive decline. Baseline mean arterial pressure (MAP), reflecting the difference between systolic and diastolic pressure was also correlated to a decline in cognitive function in the older patients. Elias said that MAP is one indication of agerelated stiffening of blood vessels. "The effects of hypertension on cognitive function are chronic and long term," Elias said. "We need to do whatever we can to prevent blood pressure from rising to begin with, but when blood pressure does increase, it needs to be treated promptly. We shouldn't hesitate to treat younger people." He also suggested that "lowering systolic blood pressure by just 20 mm Hg or diastolic pressure by 10 mm Hg would have a considerable beneficial effect on the preservation of cognitive abilities in the population as a whole." In an accompanying editorial, Jan A. Staessen and Willem Birkenhager, University of Leuven, Belgium and Erasums University in Rottendam, the Netherlands, suggested that the study has far reaching public health implications. "In the United States the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease will quadruple over the next 50 years and affect one in every 45 Americans. Clinical trials must be mounted specifically to address the questions of whether blood pressurelowering [agents] can prevent Alzheimer's disease." Top Row. Linda McReynoIds. Paul Schenk, Ruth Drapldn Bottom Row: Dennis Hanlon, Maire Rosol, Karin Gage GREAT PICTURE RESOLUTION. Six top-producing, all-broker, long-established, well-respected, award-winning, extremely knowledgeable, active in the community, pretty darn nice Realtors invite you to find out what's new in Put a picture-perfect home on your New Year's to-do list. Beer Valley and Park City Real Estate ART& FRAME Please stop by our office in the heart of Upper Deer Vafley at Silver Lake Plaza. 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