WAIS performance for different age groups of hypertensive and control subjects during the administration of a diuretic.

This study examined the effects of age and hypertension on WAIS performance. Previous studies have reported that hypertension adversely affects cognitive functioning, but few have considered the influence of hypertension on discrete age groups. Hypertension was found to be negatively associated with WAIS Verbal scores for younger (21 to 39 years) but not older (45 to 65 years) subjects. Further, younger subjects attained higher WAIS Performance scores than did older subjects. Medication history was not associated with performance levels for hypertensives, nor was performance of controls influenced by whether or not they were tested while on a diuretic. When WAIS Performance scores were analyzed for subjects matched on WAIS Verbal scores across age (21 to 39 vs 45 to 65 years) and blood pressure (normotensive vs hypertensive), a significant age by blood pressure interaction was found. The effect of blood pressure on Performance scores was found to be greater for younger than for older subjects. The association between plasma renin activity (PRA) level and WAIS Performance scores was also examined. Contrary to previous findings PRA was not related to Performance scores. The results are discussed in the context of previous hypertension research and their implications for comparisons across age levels.