Relationship of age and hypertension to neuropsychological test performance |
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| Authors: | Clyde A. Pentz III Merrill F. Elias W. Gibson Wood Norman A. Schultz John Dineen |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Division of Individual and Family Studies , The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, U.S.A.;2. Department of Psychology , University of Maine at Orono , Orono, Maine, 04469, U.S.A.;3. Bangor Mental Health Institute , Bangor, Maine, 04401, U.S.A.;4. Department of Psychology , Clemson University , Clemson, South Carolina, 29631, U.S.A.;5. Department of Psychology , Syracuse University , Syracuse, New York, 13210, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | ![]()
Young adult (X = 29) and middle aged (X = 50) hypertensive and normotensive subjects were compared with respect to seven neuropsychological test scores derived from tests on the Halstead-Reitan battery. Age main effects, with inferior performance for the middle aged subjects, were observed for the localization and time portions of the Tactile Performance Test (TPT) and for the Trail Making A test. The multivariate age effect was significant for the composite of seven scores. A multivariate blood pressure main effect was obtained and main effect blood pressure was significant for the category test; hypertensives made more errors than normotensives. A blood pressure by age interaction was observed for finger tapping scores and the TPT-Memory scores with larger differences between hypertensives and normotensives for the younger than for the middle aged group. Results were discussed in terms of previous studies of age and hypertension with the WAIS, the Primary Mental Abilities Test and serial reaction time measures. The poor prediction of hypertensive status from individual neuropsychological test scores was emphasized and readers were cautioned not to conclude that essential hypertensives, as a group, can be characterized as brain damaged. |
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