Abstract
Essential hypertension is an important risk factor for target organ damage. The brain is among the target organs infrequently visited. The authors evaluated whether an abnormal Mini-Mental Score Examination (MMSE) score predicts uncontrolled hypertension even if office blood pressure is normal. Seventy-seven hypertensive patients were included. The cognitive function of each patient was assessed using MMSE and a customized brain magnetic resonance imaging study. Patients were classified into normal cognitive function group and mild, moderate, and severe cognitive impairment groups. A significance level of P=.05 was used. There was a higher percentage of uncontrolled BP in every cognitive impairment class. In patients older than 65 years, MMSE score had a sensitivity and specificity of 94% and 83%, respectively, in the prediction of uncontrolled hypertension. MMSE is a simple test to run in the clinic to predict whether patients have well-controlled blood pressure.