Visit-to-Visit Blood Pressure Variability, Glycemic Status and the Risk of Dementia, Stroke, and All-Cause Mortality: A UK Biobank Cohort Study

Aims: The risks of dementia, stroke, and mortality increase from normoglycemia to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Blood pressure variability (BPV) is associated with adverse vascular and neurological outcomes, but its role in glycemia-associated risks remains unclear. We examined the interplay between glycemia, BPV, and these outcomes. Methods and Results: In a large prospective cohort, visit-to-visit BPV was quantified using absolute and directional measures of systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP), mean arterial (MAP), and pulse pressure (PP). Glycemic status was defined as normoglycemia, prediabetes, and T2D. Time-updated Cox models estimated outcome associations, adjusting for confounders and mean blood pressure. We evaluated the joint and independent associations of BPV and glycemic status with outcomes, effect modification, and attenuation of glycemia-associated risks after BPV adjustment. Among 57,611 participants (median follow-up, 5.1 years; IQR, 3.3-9.5 years), compared with normoglycemia and low BPV, T2D with high SBP variability was associated with higher risks of all-cause mortality (HR 2.80, 95% CI 2.12-3.69) and nominally higher risk of all-cause dementia (HR 2.46, 95% CI 1.37-4.42). All absolute BPV measures were independently associated with mortality, while DBP and MAP variability were associated with overall stroke after FDR correction. Additional adjustment for BPV minimally attenuated glycemia-associated risk, and no multiplicative interaction remained significant after multiple-testing correction. Conclusions: Absolute BPV was associated with mortality, and DBP and MAP variability with overall stroke, after accounting for glycemic status and mean blood pressure. Additional BPV adjustment changed the glycemic association only minimally.