According to researchers at Cork University in Ireland, blood pressure drugs may be able to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s and even boost cognitive abilities. The findings of the study were published in BMJ Open and reveal that both patients who had taken these drugs for years and those who started them during the study experienced benefits. The results, while preliminary, are promising because blood pressure is relatively easy to treat and the drugs are fairly inexpensive.

Some scientists, however, don’t place the link in the drugs themselves but in the conditions that they treat. High blood pressure and other heart-related conditions have already been linked to cognitive decline and dementia in the past, leading some researchers to view this study as a reaffirmation of that link. According to them, if these conditions are risk factors, then it makes sense the drugs that treat them would prevent the onset or slow the progression of the disease. Because of this, they advise patients in Alzheimer’s care to seek their doctor’s guidance in improving their cardiovascular and cognitive health.