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Life course trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts.

ABSTRACT: Much of our understanding of the age-related progression of systolic blood pressure (SBP) comes from cross-sectional data, which do not directly capture within-individual change. We estimated life course trajectories of SBP using longitudinal data from seven population-based cohorts and one predominantly white collar occupational cohort, each from the United Kingdom and with data covering different but overlapping age periods.Data are from 30,372 individuals and comprise 102,583 SBP observations spanning from age 7 to 80+y. Multilevel models were fitted to each cohort. Four life course phases were evident in both sexes: a rapid increase in SBP coinciding with peak adolescent growth, a more gentle increase in early adulthood, a midlife acceleration beginning in the fourth decade, and a period of deceleration in late adulthood where increases in SBP slowed and SBP eventually declined. These phases were still present, although at lower levels, after adjusting for increases in body mass index though adulthood. The deceleration and decline in old age was less evident after excluding individuals who had taken antihypertensive medication. Compared to the population-based cohorts, the occupational cohort had a lower mean SBP, a shallower annual increase in midlife, and a later midlife acceleration. The maximum sex difference was found at age 26 (+8.2 mm Hg higher in men, 95% CI: 6.7, 9.8); women then experienced steeper rises and caught up by the seventh decade.Our investigation shows a general pattern of SBP progression from childhood in the UK, and suggests possible differences in this pattern during adulthood between a general population and an occupational population. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.

SUBMITTER: Wills AK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3114857 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Life course trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts.

Wills Andrew K AK Lawlor Debbie A DA Matthews Fiona E FE Sayer Avan Aihie AA Bakra Eleni E Ben-Shlomo Yoav Y Benzeval Michaela M Brunner Eric E Cooper Rachel R Kivimaki Mika M Kuh Diana D Muniz-Terrera Graciela G Hardy Rebecca R

PLoS medicine 20110614 6

<h4>Background</h4>Much of our understanding of the age-related progression of systolic blood pressure (SBP) comes from cross-sectional data, which do not directly capture within-individual change. We estimated life course trajectories of SBP using longitudinal data from seven population-based cohorts and one predominantly white collar occupational cohort, each from the United Kingdom and with data covering different but overlapping age periods.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>Data are from 30,372 i ...[more]

PMID: 21695075

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Project description:ImportanceIf we assume that women and men exhibit variations of the same fundamental vascular physiology, then conventional analyses of subclinical measures would suggest that women catch up to men by midlife in the extent of potentially important vascular disease. Alternatively, under the assumption that vascular physiology may fundamentally differ between women and men, a sex-specific analysis of existing data could offer new insights and augment our understanding of sex differences in cardiovascular diseases.ObjectiveTo evaluate whether longitudinal patterns of blood pressure (BP) elevation differ between women and men during the life course when considering baseline BP levels as the reference.Design, setting, and participantsWe conducted sex-specific analyses of longitudinal BP measures (144 599 observations) collected for a period of 43 years (1971 to 2014) in 4 community-based US cohort studies. The combined total included 32 833 participants (54% female) spanning ages 5 to 98 years. Data were analyzed between May 4, 2019, and August 5, 2019.ExposuresAge and serially assessed longitudinal BP measures: systolic BP, diastolic BP, mean arterial pressure (MAP), and pulse pressure (PP).Main outcomes and measuresSex-specific change in each primary BP measure compared with baseline BP levels, derived from multilevel longitudinal models fitted over the age span, and new-onset cardiovascular disease events.ResultsOf the 32 833 participants, 17 733 were women (54%). Women compared with men exhibited a steeper increase in BP that began as early as in the third decade and continued through the life course (likelihood ratio test χ2 = 531 for systolic BP; χ2 = 123 for diastolic BP; χ2 = 325 for MAP; and χ2 = 572 for PP; P for all <.001). After adjustment for multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors, these between-sex differences in all BP trajectories persisted (likelihood ratio test χ2 = 314 for systolic BP; χ2 = 31 for diastolic BP; χ2 = 129 for MAP; and χ2 = 485 for PP; P for all <.001).Conclusions and relevanceIn contrast with the notion that important vascular disease processes in women lag behind men by 10 to 20 years, sex-specific analyses indicate that BP measures actually progress more rapidly in women than in men, beginning early in life. This early-onset sexual dimorphism may set the stage for later-life cardiovascular diseases that tend to present differently, not simply later, in women compared with men.

Dataset Information

Life course trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts.

Publications

Life course trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts.

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