Orthostatic hypotension is a form of low blood pressure characterised by the failure of blood vessels to constrict when the body takes an upright condition.
A drop in blood pressure reduces blood flow to the brain, causing feelings of light-headedness and dizziness.
Andreea M Rawling, from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a press release: “Orthostatic hypotension has been linked to heart disease, maintain and falls, so we wanted to conduct a large study to determine if this form of low blood pressure was also linked to problems in the brain, specifically dementia.
A study probing the link between hypotension and dementia included a total of 11,709 adults with no prior history of coronary heart disease, who were completed five follow-up visits over an average of 25 years.