Brain catastrophes such as strokes or dementia are well-known consequences of high blood pressure in older people. Now research points to more insidious, stealthier problems: a hard time coming up with the right word and difficulties with short-term memory. Sure, these frustrations often are part of normal aging. But it turns out they're a lot worse in people whose blood pressure is out of control.

Researchers from the Veterans Affairs Boston Health Care System discovered this link when they tested 357 otherwise healthy men. These men, whose average age was 67, lived in their communities and didn't have dementia, diabetes, or a history of stroke or other cardiovascular disease. Those whose blood pressure exceeded 140/90 (the cutoff for hypertension) for at least three years performed worse on tests of memory and verbal ability than did men with lower pressure.

For instance, when asked to name words in a category–types of animals, for example–a hypertensive 80-year-old man could list seven fewer words than could an 80-year-old man with lower blood pressure. When asked to recall words from a list of 10 shown briefly on a computer screen, that hypertensive 80-year-old recalled 1.5 fewer words, on average.

These differences persisted whether or not the men were on antihypertension medication, indicating that drugs were not affecting memory and brain function.

So that points the finger right at hypertension, the researchers say in the current issue of Neuropsychology.Uncontrolled high blood pressure may damage small arteries in the brain, interfering with blood flow to areas crucial to memory and language processing. And that's one more reason to bring those pressure levels down.