Being a Victim of Fraud May Increase Blood Pressure in Seniors

THURSDAY, Aug. 4, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Fraud victimization in older adults is associated with high blood pressure (BP), according to a study published online Aug. 3 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Melissa Lamar, Ph.D., from Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and colleagues examined the association of self-reported fraud victimization with objectively measured BP metrics using longitudinal data from more than 1,200 nondemented older adults participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project. Participants were questioned regarding fraud victimization and underwent serial BP measurements to calculate per-visit averages of systolic and diastolic BP, mean arterial pressure, and pulse pressure. Annual observation continued for up to 11 years.

In cross-sectional analyses, the researchers found that fraud victimization at baseline was associated with higher BP values. Additionally, in longitudinal change point analyses, fraud victimization was found to be associated with elevations in BP among men but not women, with men who reported incident fraud exhibiting increases in all BP metrics after the fraud.

"These findings show that fraud victimization has important public health consequences and underscore the need for efforts to prevent exploitation," Lamar said in a statement.

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