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Lifetime risk for hypertension exceeds 75% for black adults, white men
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Black men, black women and white men have a lifetime risk for hypertension of more than 75%, a figure that has risen since publication of the 2017 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association hypertension guideline, according to data published in JAMA Cardiology.
As Cardiology Today previously reported, the 2017 guideline changed the definition of hypertension to begin at BP of 130/80 mm Hg, elevating the number of U.S. adults who qualify as hypertensive.
For the present analysis, Vincent Chen, BA, from the department of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and colleagues evaluated 13,160 black or white men and women from three cohorts who had multiple BP assessments to determine lifetime risk for hypertension using the 2017 guideline and the seventh Joint National Committee report (JNC 7), which had a BP threshold for hypertension of 140/90 mm Hg.
The primary outcome was cumulative lifetime hypertension risk after adjustment for competing mortality risks and baseline hypertension prevalence. Follow-up included 227,600 person-years.
Among those who entered their respective cohort studies from age 20 to 30 years, baseline hypertension prevalence was 30.7% in white men, 23.1% in black men, 10.1% in white women and 12.3% in black women, Chen and colleagues wrote.
Under the definition of hypertension in the 2017 guideline, lifetime risk for hypertension was 83.8% in white men (95% CI, 82.5-85), 86.1% in black men (95% CI, 84.1-88.1), 69.3% in white women (95% CI, 67.8-70.7) and 85.7% in black women (95% CI, 84-87.5), according to the researchers.
By comparison, under JNC 7 standards, lifetime risk for hypertension was lower (60.5% in white men, 74.7% in black men, 53.9% in white women and 77.3% in black women).
“The increase in lifetime risk under the new, lower blood pressure threshold is more notable for white individuals than for African-American individuals and was greatest in young white men,” Chen and colleagues wrote. “The high prevalence of hypertension at ages 20 to 30 years underscores the importance of hypertension awareness and primordial prevention targeting children, adolescents and young adults.” – by Erik Swain
Disclosure: One author reports he is a consultant for NGM Bio.
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