Higher blood pressure in young adulthood increases the risk for coronary heart disease, a new study found.
Researchers followed almost 3,500 men and women for 25 years with periodic physical examinations beginning in 1985, when all were healthy and 18 to 30 years old. They calculated their cumulative exposure to high blood pressure over the years.
The scientists, writing in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, studied left ventricular dysfunction — damage to the part of the heart that pumps blood to the entire body except the lungs. Left ventricle impairment is a main cause of heart failure. They found the higher the blood pressure, the greater the damage to the left ventricle. In addition, even after adjusting for other risk factors, chronic high blood pressure in young adulthood increased coronary calcium in middle age to a degree similar to that of the initial stages of atherosclerosis.
“This paper highlights that in the first half of adult life, it’s very important to keep blood pressure as low as one can,” said the lead author, Dr. João A.C. Lima, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins, adding that “130/80 or 130/70 should be the goal for people under 50.”
Current guidelines advise treatment at 140/90 for people ages 30 to 59.