A hike in your blood pressure during middle age significantly raises the risk of having a heart attack or a stroke during your lifetime, according to new Northwestern Medicine research. The study offers a new understanding on the importance of maintaining low blood pressure early in middle age to prevent heart disease later in life.  Men and women who developed high blood pressure in middle age or who started out with high blood pressure had an estimated 30 percent increased risk of having a heart attack or stroke compared to those who kept their blood pressure low.

Previous estimates of a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease were based on a single blood pressure measurement. The higher the blood pressure reading, the greater the risk. The new Northwestern Medicine study expands on that by showing a more accurate predictor is a change in blood pressure from age 41 to 55.

“We found the longer we can prevent hypertension or postpone it, the lower the risk for cardiovascular disease,” said lead author Norrina Allen, assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Even for people with normal blood pressure, we want to make sure they keep it at that level, and it doesn’t start increasing over time.”

“There hasn’t been as much of a focus on keeping it low when people are in their 40’s and 50’s,” Allen added. “That’s before a lot of people start focusing on cardiovascular disease risk factors. We’ve shown it’s vital to start early.”  People that maintain or reduce their blood pressure to normal levels by age 55 have the lowest lifetime risk for a heart attack or a stroke.

The study used data from 61,585 participants in the Cardiovascular Lifetime Risk Pooling Project. Starting with baseline blood pressure readings at age 41, researchers measured blood pressure again at age 55, then followed the patients until the occurrence of a first heart attack or stroke, death or age 95.

The study did include men and women demonstrating a growing increase in important sex based medicine.   Men who developed high blood pressure in middle age or who started out with high blood pressure had a 70 percent risk of having a heart attack or stroke compared to a 41 percent risk for men who maintained low blood pressure or whose blood pressure decreased during the time period. Women who developed high blood pressure had almost a 50 percent risk of a heart attack or stroke compared to a 22 percent risk for those who kept their blood pressure low or saw a decrease.

Men generally have a 55 percent risk of cardiovascular disease in their lifetimes; women have a 40 percent risk.

“Our research suggests people can take preventive steps to keep their blood pressure low early on to reduce their chances of a heart attack or stroke,” said Donald M. Lloyd-Jones, MD, study co-author, chair of preventive medicine at Northwestern.  “Maintaining a healthy diet, combined with exercise and weight control, can help reduce blood pressure levels and, consequently, your risk for cardiovascular disease later in life.”

The study is published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association

 

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Comments

It just goes to show that you can't start looking after your health too early. You can't just postpone that change to a healthy lifestyle and hope you'll get away with it.

Informative posting! I think this posting would be effective for all. Thank you for sharing with us.

This well-elaborated post is so inviting to read. Continue making more articles like this.

When the blood pressure starts creeping up at this age, this is the time to look into the DASH Diet. This healthy eating concept has been shown to reduce blood pressure.

Buying a blood pressure machine for home use can be a good investment. Often a doctor will recommend tracking your blood pressure at home, at various times of the day, and keeping a record to show him at your next appointment. The newer blood pressure machines can also detect an irregular heart rate (arrhythmia)that may be happening when you take your blood pressure, so look for one of them. If you are detecting an irregular heart rate you should tell your doctor right away,as it can be serious.

Hitting forty next month myself, this is a informative article.

It just goes to show that you can’t start looking after your health too early. You can’t just postpone that change to a healthy lifestyle and hope you’ll get away with it.