Loading...
Detailed knowledge about the associations between systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) and specific cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is limited and drawn largely from studies performed before antihypertensive medications were used widely for primary prevention. To address these associations in a more contemporary era (with patients exposed intermittently to various combinations of antihypertensive drugs), U.K. researchers assembled a cohort of 1.25 million patients (age, ≥30) without known CVD; one fifth were taking antihypertensive medications at baseline. During a median 5.2 years of follow-up, more than 83,000 patients presented with 1 of 12 initial manifestations of CVD.
At all ages, overall risk for CVD incidence was lowest for peop…