High Blood Pressure Awaits 9 Out of 10 Americans

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High Blood Pressure Awaits 9 Out of 10 Americans

Tue Feb 26, 5:51 PM ET

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Middle-aged and older Americans face a 90%

chance of developing high blood pressure during their lives, researchers

have found.

Since high blood pressure boosts the odds of heart disease, stroke and

kidney disease, this lifetime risk represents a " huge public health

burden, " according to the report in the February 27th issue of The

Journal of the American Medical Association ( news

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But the burden need not be so heavy, as high blood pressure is closely

linked to lifestyle factors including inactivity and unhealthy eating

habits, the study's lead author told Reuters Health.

" We know that high blood pressure is preventable, " said Dr. Ramachandran

S. Vasan, of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Framingham

Heart Study--a long-running study of cardiovascular health among men and

women that began in 1948 in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Vasan noted that people of any age can reduce their risk of developing

high blood pressure, or hypertension, by maintaining a healthy weight;

getting regular, moderate exercise; following a diet low in fat and

sodium, and rich in fruits and vegetables; not smoking; and limiting

alcohol.

And although it's best to practice these habits over a lifetime, " it's

never too late to start, " Vasan said.

His team looked at nearly 1,300 men and women in the Framingham study

who were between the ages of 55 and 65 at the start of the analysis.

They determined the participants' risk of developing high blood pressure

between 1976 and 1998, and compared this risk with that of participants

followed from 1952 to 1975.

Overall, the chances that the more recent group would develop stage 1

hypertension were 90%, the investigators found. Men in this group were

60% more likely than men in the 1952-1975 group to be diagnosed with

stage 1 hypertension, while women's risk remained stable over time.

Stage 1 hypertension refers to blood pressure at or beyond the cutoff

point for desirable blood pressure--140/90 mm Hg. Stage 2 hypertension

is defined as blood pressure of 160/100 mm Hg or higher. In the study's

bright spot, men and women in the more recent group were less likely

than their predecessors to develop this more severe hypertension.

This is likely due to the substantial increase in drug treatment for

hypertension over time, Vasan explained.

But although this decline in stage 2 hypertension " represents a major

achievement, " he and his colleagues conclude, more needs to be done to

prevent elevated blood pressure in the first place.

Vasan noted that the lifetime risk in this study did not just reflect

risk " late in life. " More than half of 55-year-old participants

developed high blood pressure within 10 years, his team found.

SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;287:1003-