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Media Advisory
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
NIH launches public health campaign on link between hypertension and brain health
Mind Your Risks raises awareness of the link between high blood pressure and cognitive impairment.
What
A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that uncontrolled high blood pressure is not only the leading cause of stroke but may also be linked to cognitive decline and dementia. Today, the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is launching a public health education campaign called Mind Your Risks. The campaign is designed to raise awareness about how controlling the risk factors for stroke in middle age, particularly high blood pressure, may reduce the risk of cognitive decline later in life.
“We hope that this campaign will lead people to think about how they can decrease their chances of developing dementia later in life. The Mind Your Risks campaign will offer some concrete prevention steps. Controlling hypertension is at the top of the list,” said Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D. director of the NINDS.
NINDS is partnering with Million Hearts, an initiative by the Health and Human Services Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; and also with the Administration for Community Living, and the NIH’s National Institute on Aging and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
For more information: https://mindyourrisks.nih.gov
Who
NINDS Director Walter J. Koroshetz, M.D. is available to comment on this public health campaign
Contact
To schedule interviews, please contact Marian Emr or Margo Warren nindspressteam@ninds.nih.gov or 301-496-5924.
About NINDS is the nation’s leading funder of research on the brain and nervous system. The mission of NINDS is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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