Middle-aged adults with healthy heart habits may lower high blood pressure risk years later

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-09/aha-maw091120.php

News Release 16-Sep-2020
American Heart Association

Better heart health, as measured by the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 (LS7) scale, was associated with a significantly lower risk of developing high blood pressure (also known as hypertension) in middle-aged, Black and white adults, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open access journal of the American Heart Association.

"High blood pressure is among the most common conditions in the U.S., and it contributes to the greatest burden of disability and largest reduction in healthy life expectancy among any disease," said Timothy B. Plante, M.D., M.H.S., lead study author and assistant professor in the department of medicine at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont in Burlington. "Even though high blood pressure causes so much death and disability, we don't know the root cause of it."

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"Among middle-aged people without hypertension, there is still a huge benefit to seeking optimal cardiovascular health," Plante said. "These findings support the current clinical practice recommendations of lifestyle modifications such as eating better, quitting smoking and maintaining a healthy weight to all people, including those without high blood pressure."

The finding is especially important for Black Americans, who have the highest rate of high blood pressure among any group in the world and develop the condition at a younger age and with more severity.

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