20 Apr Men and African Americans More Likely To Transition to Hypertension At Younger Age
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Hardy
Shakia Hardy, MPH, CPH. PhD
Department of Epidemiology
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Previous studies characterizing blood pressure levels across the life course have relied on prevalence estimates at a given age.
Our study was interested in identifying critical ages at which net transitions between levels of blood pressure occurred. We used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2012) to estimate age-, race-, and sex-specific annual net transition probabilities between ideal blood pressure, prehypertension and hypertension.
We found that African Americans and men were more likely to transition from ideal levels of blood pressure in childhood or early adulthood compared to white Americans and women, which puts them at increased risk of developing prehypertension and hypertension earlier in life.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: Primordial prevention beginning in childhood and into early adulthood is needed to preempt the development of prehypertension and hypertension, as well as associated race/ethnic and sex disparities.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Response: Widespread awareness of these data could help motivate researchers to focus on testing innovative prevention and detection programs for elevated blood pressure targeted to younger populations. Public health and clinical efforts need to reach those known to be vulnerable to early rises in blood pressure in culturally- and gender-appropriate settings.
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Last Updated on April 20, 2017 by Marie Benz MD FAAD