Relationship between retinopathy and cognitive impairment among hypertensive subjects. A case-control study in the ankara-pursaklar region.

Background: The relationship between hypertension and cognitive impairment has been investigated in the literature; several clinical studies suggested a relationship between hypertension and retinopathy.

Methods: We examined the relationship between the retinopathy status and cognitive functions by using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) among hypertensive subjects older than 40 years who were admitted to our Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Ophthalmology clinics. The subjects were categorized into three groups: group 1 = control subjects (n = 39), group 2 = hypertensive patients without retinopathy (n = 32), and group 3 = hypertensive patients with retinopathy (n = 25).