Antihypertensive and Statin Medication Use and Motor Function in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract

Objectives To investigate whether the use of antihypertensive and statin medication in very old adults is associated with the level of motor performance. Design Cross sectional study. Settings A community-based study recruited from over 40 residential facilities across the metropolitan Chicago area. Participants Community dwelling very old adults (n=1520; mean age 80.2; SD 7.7). Measurements Eleven motor performances were summarized using a composite motor score. All prescription and over the counter medications taken by participants were inspected and coded using the Medi-Span Data Base System. Demographic characteristics and medical history were obtained via detailed interview and medical exams. Results In multiple linear regression models, antihypertensive medications were associated with global motor score (β=−0.075, S.E. 0.011, p<0.001). Thus, motor function in an individual with antihypertensive medication, was on average, about 7.5% lower than an age, sex and education matched individual without antihypertensive medication. The number of antihypertensive medications which were being used had an additive effect, such that a reduction in the level of motor function was observed with each additional medication, and receiving three or more antihypertensive medications was associated with about a 15% reduction in the level of motor function. The association between antihypertensive medications and motor function was robust, and remained unchanged after adjusting for confounding by indication using several potentially confounding variables: smoking, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, congestive heart-failure, myocardial infarction, and intermittent claudication (β=−0.05, S.E. 0.015, p=0.001). In contrast, the use of statin medications was not related to motor function (unadjusted: β=0.003, S.E.=0.015, p=0.826; fully adjusted: β=0.018, S.E. 0.014, p=0.216). Conclusion The use of antihypertensive medications is associated with a lower level of motor function in very old adults. The nature of this association warrants further investigation.

Religious Orders Study and Rush Memory and Aging Project

“…Further, neurons in the locus coeruleus were related to parkinsonian signs and to cognition [134, 240]. Thus, it was not surprising that many risk factors for cognitive decline and AD dementia are also risk factors for motor outcomes including physical and social activity, social isolation, neuroticism, harm avoidance, extraversion, and antihypertensive medications [232, 233, 241–244]. By contrast, traumatic brain injury was related to progression of parkinsonism and PD pathology but not change in cognition or AD pathology [245].…”

Influence of Cardiovascular Risk Burden on Motor Function Among Older Adults: Mediating Role of Cardiovascular Diseases Accumulation and Cognitive Decline

“…The relationship between single cardiovascular risk factors (e.g., older age, lower HDL-C levels, diabetes mellitus, and antihypertensive medications use) and motor function decline has been reported in many studies ( 30 – 33 ). As cardiovascular risk factors tend to occur in clusters, FGCRS combines vascular risk factors by assigning values to various risk factors with different severity levels synthetically as a global measure of vascular risk burden which may better predict the risk of future CVDs ( 9 ).…”