We’ve always known that high blood pressure is one of the major risk factors for heart disease and stroke but new research has quantified the lifetime risk—and it’s not good news. Among the findings, the study reports that almost 70 percent of all men who develop high blood pressure in middle age will experience a cardiovascular disease event by age 85. Cardiovascular events include angina, heart attack and stroke.

By contrast, those who maintained or reduced their blood pressure to normal levels by age 55 had a lifetime risk for CVD between 22 percent and 41 percent.

The study analyzed data from 61,585 participants in the Cardiovascular Lifetime Risk Pooling Project to understand how changes in blood pressure during middle age affected lifetime CVD risk. Previous studies had evaluated risk for CVD based on blood pressure at a given age. In this study, age 55 was considered a mid-point for middle age.

They tracked blood pressure changes from an average of 14 years prior to age 55 and then continued to follow the patients until the first cardiovascular event, death, or age 95.

Researchers also found:

• Women, in general, had higher increases in blood pressure during middle age.
• Women who develop high blood pressure by early middle-age (average age 41) have a higher lifetime risk for CVD (49.4 percent) than those who have maintained normal blood pressure up to age 55.
• At an average age 55, 25.7 percent of men and 40.8 percent of women had normal blood pressure levels; 49.4 percent of men and 47.5 of women had prehypertension.
• When factoring in all blood pressure levels, the overall lifetime CVD risk for people 55 years or older was 52.5 percent for men and 39.9 percent for women.
• The lifetime risk for CVD was higher among Blacks compared with Whites of the same sex, and increased with rising blood pressure at middle age.

Better Risk Assessment

The researchers believe that tracking blood pressure changes over time provides a more accurate estimate for the lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease and can help us predict individualized risk, and thus, individualized prevention strategies.

Since the data suggests that both early elevations and changes over time in blood pressure measurements impact your future risk of CVD, you can take preventive steps early on to reduce your chance of heart attack or stroke.

Do you know your risk?

Have your blood pressure checked by a health care provider at least once a year. Even children should have their blood pressure checked as part of their routine physical exams. Do not rely on drug store measurements as these may not be accurate enough.

Sources:

Science Daily

Cleveland Clinic