ABSTRACT
Antihypertensive medications, although promoted and prescribed primarily for their ability to reduce arterial blood pressure, have a variety of other effects that significantly affect the lives of patients consuming them. In addition to side effects that result from actions on the autonomic nervous system (e.g., orthostatic hypotension), clinical observations and experimental findings suggest important actions of these agents within the central nervous system (Light, 1980; Middlemiss, Buxton, & Greenwood, 1981; Rosen & Kostis, 1985; Turner, 1983). Behavioral performance testing, subsuming neuropsychological assessments and evaluation of real-life skills, is a clinically applicable and objective approach to the measurement of the effects of antihypertensive medications on cognitive or behavioral functioning. In this chapter, we review the literature on the application of such assessments to the determination of behavioral effects of antihypertensive medications and discuss the principal findings in relation to clinical issues in the treatment of hypertension.
