Hypertension while lying down elevates risk for CVD events
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Key takeaways:
- People who had hypertension as assessed while lying down had elevated risk for CVD events.
- The CV risk for people who had hypertension while lying down but not while sitting remained high.
People with hypertension while supine had elevated risk for CVD even if they did not have hypertension while seated, researchers reported at the American Heart Association Hypertension Scientific Sessions.
“If blood pressure is only measured while people are seated upright, cardiovascular disease risk may be missed if not measured also while they are lying supine on their backs,” Duc M. Giao, a researcher and fourth-year MD student at Harvard Medical School, said in a press release.
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Giao and colleagues analyzed 11,369 participants from the ARIC cohort (mean age, 54 years; 56% women; 25% Black) who had seated and supine BP, both defined as at least 130 mm Hg systolic or at least 80 mm Hg diastolic as measured from the respective position, assessed at their first visit from 1987 to 1989. All participants had no history of CHD, HF or stroke at baseline.
Among the cohort, 16% of those who did not have seated hypertension had supine hypertension, and 74% of those who had seated hypertension had supine hypertension, according to the researchers.
At a median of 25 to 28 years of follow-up, after adjustment from seated hypertension, supine hypertension was associated with elevated risk for incident CHD (adjusted HR = 1.6; 95% CI, 1.45-1.76), HF (aHR = 1.83; 95% CI, 1.68-2.01), stroke (aHR = 1.86; 95% CI, 1.63-2.13), fatal CHD (aHR = 2.18; 95% CI, 1.84-2.59) and all-cause mortality (aHR = 1.43; 95% CI, 1.35-1.52), Giao and colleagues found.
The results were consistent regardless of hypertension medication use (P for interaction for all > .05).
The risk curves were similar in patients with supine hypertension only and in patients with both supine and seated hypertension, Giao and colleagues found.
“Our findings suggest people with known risk factors for heart disease and stroke may benefit from having their blood pressure checked while lying flat on their backs,” Giao said in the release. “Efforts to manage blood pressure during daily life may help lower blood pressure while sleeping. Future research should compare supine blood pressure measurements in the clinic with overnight measurements.”
Reference:
- High blood pressure while lying down linked to higher risk of heart health complications. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/high-blood-pressure-while-lying-down-linked-to-higher-risk-of-heart-health-complications. Published Sept. 7, 2023. Accessed Sept. 7, 2023.
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Giao DM, et al. Abstract 452. Presented at: American Heart Association Hypertension Scientific Sessions; Sept. 7-10, 2023; Boston.
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