EFFECTS OF BIOFEEDBACK ON BLOOD PRESSURE AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING OF OLDER ADULTS WITH HYPERTENSION

摘要

We explored the effects of biofeedback-assisted relaxation training on blood pressure and cognitive functioning of the community-dwelling older adults with essential hypertension. One hundred and eight older adults with essential hypertension were selected from a community in Changsha and randomly divided into equal-sized control and experimental groups. Participants in the control group were given routine service of the community, while those in the experimental group received biofeedback-assisted relaxation training plus routine service of the community. All participants were assessed by trained assistants blind to study group allocation using mercury sphygmomanometer, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), before the training and at 3 and 6 months of the training. Spearman correlation analysis indicated SBP and MoCA score, attention, abstract, delayed recall scores were related negatively (r=-0.308, -0.317, -0.290, -0.342, respectively) (P＜0.01); DBP and MoCA, abstract, delayed recall score were also related negatively(r=-0.206, P＜0.05；r=-0.218, P＜0.05; r=-0.245, P＜0.01). Repeated measures analysis of variance showed that there was significant time effect as well as interaction effect between intervention and time on SBP (P＜0.01), and significant intervention effect, time effect as well as interaction effect between intervention and time on DBP, MMSE and MoCA (P＜0.05). Therefore, there is a negative correlation between blood pressure and cognitive functioning; biofeedback-assisted relaxation can be used to control hypertension and improve cognitive functioning of community-dwelling older adults with essential hypertension.