Type 2 diabetes increases the chance than an older person will encounter cognitive difficulties. Researchers had hoped that lowering blood pressure and cholesterol in such patients would reduce the likelihood of mental decline. The goal of the ACCORD trial was to lower systolic blood pressure to 120 or less and to get bad LDL cholesterol to below 100.
Although study subjects were successful in achieving these goals, their cognitive function was not significantly better than that of volunteers on placebo. Those in the intervention group also did not have significantly better brain volume than those in the placebo group. Total brain volume was assessed by MRI.
