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

Wills, A. K. et al. (2011) Life course trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts. PLoS Medicine, 8(6), e1000440. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000440) (PMID:21695075) (PMCID:PMC3114857)

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Abstract

Background: 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. Methods and Findings: 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. Conclusions: 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.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Benzeval, Dr Michaela
Authors: Wills, A. K., Lawlor, D. A., Matthews, F. E., Aihie Sayer, A., Bakra, E., Ben-Shlomo, Y., Benzeval, M., Brunner, E., Cooper, R., Kivimaki, M., Kuh, D., Muniz-Terrera, G., and Hardy, R.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU
Journal Name:PLoS Medicine
Publisher:Public Library of Science
ISSN:1549-1277
ISSN (Online):1549-1676
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2011Wills et al.
First Published:First published in PLoS Medicine 8(6):e1000440
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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