Association Between Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy and Interval Neurocognitive Decline: An Analysis of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.

Objective: To evaluate whether hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and eclampsia, are associated with cognitive decline later in life among U.S. Hispanic/Latina individuals.
Methods: The HCHS/SOL (Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos) is a prospective population-based study of Hispanic/Latino individuals aged 18-74 years from four U.S. communities. This analysis included parous individuals aged 45 years or older who participated in the HCHS/SOL clinic study visit 1 (2008-2011) neurocognitive assessment and subsequently completed a repeat neurocognitive assessment as part of the Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging ancillary study visit 2 (2015-2018). Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were assessed retrospectively by self-report of any gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, or eclampsia. Cognitive functioning was measured at both study visits with the Brief Spanish-English Verbal Learning Test, Digit Symbol Substitution, and Word Fluency. A regression-based approach was used to define cognitive decline at visit 2 as a function of cognition at visit 1 after adjustment for age, education, and follow-up time. Linear regression models were used to determine whether hypertensive disorders of pregnancy or their component diagnoses were associated with standardized cognitive decline after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, clinical and behavioral risk factors, and follow-up time.
Results: Among 3,554 individuals included in analysis, the mean age was 56.2 years, and 467 of individuals (13.4%) reported at least one hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. Individuals with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy compared with those without were more likely to have higher mean systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, and body mass index. After an average of 7 years of follow-up, in fully adjusted models, gestational hypertension was associated with a 0.17-SD relative decline in Digit Symbol Substitution scores (95% CI, -0.31 to -0.04) but not other cognitive domains (Brief Spanish-English Verbal Learning Test or Word Fluency). Neither preeclampsia nor eclampsia was associated with neurocognitive differences.
Conclusion: The presence of preeclampsia or eclampsia was not associated with interval neurocognitive decline. In this cohort of U.S. Hispanic/Latina individuals, gestational hypertension alone was associated with decreased processing speed and executive functioning later in life.
Competing Interests: Financial Disclosure Tali Elfassy received support from the NIH/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (MD014158). Shathiyah Kulandavelu received support from American Heart Association (19CDA34660102). Leah Dodds received support from the NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL165894). Krista M. Perreira's institution received payment from the NIH, Russell Sage Foundation, and the Urban Institute. She received an honorarium from the University of Tennessee. Richard B. Lipton received payment from AbbVie, Amgen, and Pfizer. Dr. Lipton is the Edwin S. Lowe Professor of Neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He receives research support from the NIH: 2PO1 AG003949 (mPI), 1RF1 AG057531 (site PI), RF1 AG054548 (investigator), 1RO1 AG048642 (investigator), R56 AG057548 (investigator), RO1 AG060933 (investigator), RO1 AG062622 (investigator), 1UG3FD006795 (mPI), 1U24NS113847 (investigator), U01 AT011005 (investigator), 1R01 AG075758 (pending, investigator), 1R01 AG077639 (pending, investigator), and K23 NS107643 (mentor). He also receives support from the Migraine Research Foundation and the National Headache Foundation and research grants from TEVA, Satsuma, and Amgen. He serves on the Editorial Board of Neurology , is a senior advisor to Headache , and is an associate editor for Cephalalgia . He has reviewed for the National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; holds stock and stock options in Biohaven Holdings as well as stock options in Manistee; and serves as consultant or advisory board member for or has received honoraria from the following: AbbVie (Allergan), American Academy of Neurology, American Headache Society, Amgen, Avanir, Axon, Axsome, Biohaven, Biovision, Boston Scientific, Dr. Reddy's (Promius), Electrocore, Eli Lilly, eNeura Therapeutics, Equinox, GlaxoSmithKline, Grifols, Lundbeck (Alder), Merck, Pernix, Pfizer, Satsuma, Supernus, Teva, Trigemina, Vector, and Vedanta. He receives royalties from Wolff's Headache 7th and 8th editions, Oxford Press University, 2009, Wiley and Informa. The other authors did not report any potential conflicts of interest.
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