SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 14, 2017 - New research shows maintaining a healthy weight throughout life - more so than four other health behaviors studied - is important to help keep blood pressure in check, according to research presented today at the American Heart Association (AHA) Council on Hypertension, AHA Council on Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease, American Society of Hypertension Joint Scientific Sessions 2017 in San Francisco.
"Increasing blood pressure at younger ages is associated with earlier onset of heart disease and stroke, and U.S. high blood pressure treatment guidelines support maintaining healthy behaviors across the lifespan to limit rises in blood pressure as we age," said John N. Booth III, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow of the American Heart Association's Strategically Focused Hypertension Research Network at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "We looked specifically at the long-term impact of maintaining healthy behaviors on changes in blood pressure between early and middle-age adulthood."
Researchers analyzed the impact of maintaining five health behaviors on blood pressure levels over 25 years:
They assessed 4,630 participants of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study, who were 18 to 30 years old in 1985 and 1986, when the study started. During the 25-year follow-up, researchers measured blood pressure and health behaviors eight times, until participants were in middle age.
They found:
"This data suggests that body weight is very important in terms of maintaining a normal blood pressure from early and into middle adulthood," Booth said. "These results provide evidence that what we may want to do is focus on how we can create interventions that will enable individuals to maintain a normal body weight throughout their lifetimes. The other behaviors we studied may play an important role since they can influence body weight."
In addition, while they were not as closely related to changes in blood pressure over time, Booth emphasized that the other health behaviors have clear benefits for overall cardiovascular health and help in weight maintenance. "The American Heart Association recommends maintaining healthy behaviors to prevent risk factors for heart disease and stroke from developing, including high blood pressure."
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Co-authors are Norrina B. Allen, Ph.D.; April P. Carson, Ph.D.; David Calhoun, M.D.; Daichi Shimbo, M.D.; James M. Shikany, Dr.Ph.; Cora E. Lewis, M.D.; David T. Redden, Ph.D.; and Paul Muntner, Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.
The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association funded this study.
Note: Actual time of scientific presentation of poster P149 is 5:30 p.m. PT/ 8:30 p.m. ET, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017.
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