Influence of RAS acting Blood Pressure Medications on Disease Progression and
Biological Indices of Brain Health 
 
   Lead Investigator:    Whitney Wharton
   Institution      :    Emory
   E-Mail           :    w.wharton@emory.edu
   Proposal ID      :    527



   Proposal Description:
   We recently reported that use of RAS acting medication both preserved cognitive function and resulted in slower disease progression in a sample of African American and Caucasian hypertensive participants from the UDS. While the cognitive and clinical benefits are clear, it is unknown whether these benefits were imparted via preservation of cerebral blood flow or less beta amyloid accumulation, or both.     Vascular measures of interest include Systolic, diastolic, pulse pressure, MAP, heart rate, BMI, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and smoking. We will characterize the BP status of each individual, mean (an average of values) and variability defined through the coefficient of variation (standard deviation [SD] x 100/mean) will be obtained for both SBP and diastolic BP (DBP). Values for both DBP and SBP (the mean of the last 2 values) will be calculated for each annual visit and put into a model to test for the impact of BP variability on disease conversion and cognitive and functional decline.