Study shows risk for younger adults with isolated systolic hypertension

'Top Number' alone in blood pressure reading better indicator than previously thought

IMAGE:This infographic compliments the paper. view more

Credit: Cardiosmart/The American College of Cardiology

WASHINGTON (Jan. 26, 2015) -- Younger adults with elevated systolic blood pressure -- the top number in the blood pressure reading -- have a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease than those with normal blood pressure, according to a large long-term study of younger adults published online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The risk was higher for women.

High systolic blood pressure with normal or near normal diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) is known as isolated systolic hypertension.

"Until now, physicians have not considered isolated systolic hypertension to be bad, but this study shows higher risk," said the study's lead author Yuichiro Yano, MD, of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. "By identifying risks in younger populations, they can be made aware of the need to maintain cardiovascular health as they age."

Researchers followed nearly 30,000 young and middle-aged adults for more than 30 years. Isolated systolic blood pressure is defined as a systolic blood pressure 140 mm Hg or greater and diastolic blood pressure of less than 90 mm Hg. Normal blood pressure is defined as 130 mm Hg or less over 85 mm Hg or less.

The study included 15,868 men and 11,213 women age 18 to 49, with a mean age of 34 years, from the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry Study. Given the large number of participants in the Chicago study, researchers from Northwestern, University of Illinois at Chicago and University of California in Irvine believed it was a unique opportunity to study this population.

The subjects were recruited between 1967 and 1973. Of these, 85 percent were non-Hispanic whites without signs of heart disease who were not taking antihypertensive medications. The study found that compared to men who have normal blood pressure, men with high systolic blood pressure had a 23 percent increase in cardiovascular death. Compared to women with normal blood pressure, women with high systolic blood pressure had a 55 percent increase in cardiovascular death.

"We were surprised to find that women with isolated systolic hypertension were not so rare (25 percent of younger and middle-aged adults with isolated systolic hypertension were women)," Dr. Yano said. "Their cardiovascular disease risk is higher than we thought it would be."

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Study shows risk for younger adults with isolated systolic hypertension