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Cited by 1,643Blood Pressure and Hypertension StudiesCardiovascular Health and Disease PreventionSodium Intake and Health

Blood pressure and incidence of twelve cardiovascular diseases: lifetime risks, healthy life-years lost, and age-specific associations in 1.25 million people

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Rapsomaniki, Eleni, Timmis, Adam, George, Julie, Pujades-Rodriguez, Mar, Shah, Anoop D, Denaxas, Spiros, White, Ian R, Caulfield, Mark J +5 more·2014·The Lancet
DOI 10.1016/s0140-6736(14)60685-1PMC PMC4042017
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The associations of blood pressure with the different manifestations of incident cardiovascular disease in a contemporary population have not been compared. In this study, we aimed to analyse the associations of blood pressure with 12 different presentations of cardiovascular disease. METHODS: We used linked electronic health records from 1997 to 2010 in the CALIBER (CArdiovascular research using LInked Bespoke studies and Electronic health Records) programme to assemble a cohort of 1·25 million patients, 30 years of age or older and initially free from cardiovascular disease, a fifth of whom received blood pressure-lowering treatments. We studied the heterogeneity in the age-specific associations of clinically measured blood pressure with 12 acute and chronic cardiovascular diseases, and estimated the lifetime risks (up to 95 years of age) and cardiovascular disease-free life-years lost adjusted for other risk factors at index ages 30, 60, and 80 years. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01164371. FINDINGS: During 5·2 years median follow-up, we recorded 83,098 initial cardiovascular disease presentations. In each age group, the lowest risk for cardiovascular disease was in people with systolic blood pressure of 90-114 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure of 60-74 mm Hg, with no evidence of a J-shaped increased risk at lower blood pressures. The effect of high blood pressure varied by cardiovascular disease endpoint, from strongly positive to no effect. Associations with high systolic blood pressure were strongest for intracerebral haemorrhage (hazard ratio 1·44 [95% CI 1·32-1·58]), subarachnoid haemorrhage (1·43 [1·25-1·63]), and stable angina (1·41 [1·36-1·46]), and weakest for abdominal aortic aneurysm (1·08 [1·00-1·17]). Compared with diastolic blood pressure, raised systolic blood pressure had a greater effect on angina, myocardial infarction, and peripheral arterial disease, whereas raised diastolic blood pressure had a greater effect on abdominal aortic aneurysm than did raised systolic pressure. Pulse pressure associations were inverse for abdominal aortic aneurysm (HR per 10 mm Hg 0·91 [95% CI 0·86-0·98]) and strongest for peripheral arterial disease (1·23 [1·20-1·27]). People with hypertension (blood pressure ≥140/90 mm Hg or those receiving blood pressure-lowering drugs) had a lifetime risk of overall cardiovascular disease at 30 years of age of 63·3% (95% CI 62·9-63·8) compared with 46·1% (45·5-46·8) for those with normal blood pressure, and developed cardiovascular disease 5·0 years earlier (95% CI 4·8-5·2). Stable and unstable angina accounted for most (43%) of the cardiovascular disease-free years of life lost associated with hypertension from index age 30 years, whereas heart failure and stable angina accounted for the largest proportion (19% each) of years of life lost from index age 80 years. INTERPRETATION: The widely held assumptions that blood pressure has strong associations with the occurrence of all cardiovascular diseases across a wide age range, and that diastolic and systolic associations are concordant, are not supported by the findings of this high-resolution study. Despite modern treatments, the lifetime burden of hypertension is substantial. These findings emphasise the need for new blood pressure-lowering strategies, and will help to inform the design of randomised trials to assess them. FUNDING: Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, and Wellcome Trust.

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  • High blood pressure is the single leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease worldwide.

    “High blood pressure (BP) is the single leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease worldwide,1–4”

    From International Consensus on Standardized Clinic Blood Pressure Measurement – A Call to Action (2023) · cites this paper as [4]

    The Introduction says high blood pressure was the leading risk factor for the overall global burden of disease in 2010, and the Results link hypertension to higher cardiovascular disease risk. The paper does not establish the narrower ranking that it is the single leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease worldwide. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Authors
Rapsomaniki, E., Timmis, A., George, J., Pujades-Rodriguez, M., Shah, A. D., Denaxas, S., White, I. R., Caulfield, M. J., Deanfield, J. E., Smeeth, L., Williams, B., Hingorani, A., & Hemingway, H.
Affiliations
  • Farr Institute (GB)
  • Queen Mary University of London (GB)
  • MRC Biostatistics Unit (GB)
  • London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
  • National Institute for Health and Care Research (GB)
Corresponding author
Rapsomaniki, Eleni
ORCID
Venue
The Lancet
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2014-05
Volume
383
Issue
9932
Pages
1899-1911
ISSN
  • 0099-5355 (ISSN-L)
  • 0140-6736
DOI
10.1016/s0140-6736(14)60685-1
PMC
PMC4042017
OpenAlex
W2169428949
Cited by
1,643
References
41
Citations by year
2026: 79 · 2025: 117 · 2024: 145 · 2023: 161 · 2022: 162 · 2021: 192 · 2020: 168 · 2019: 163 · 2018: 142 · 2017: 117 · 2016: 94 · 2015: 66 · 2014: 34
FWCI
71.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • The Lancet (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (RP-PG-0407–10314)
  • Wellcome Trust (086091/Z/08/Z, 0938/30/Z/10/Z)
  • Medical Research Council Prognosis Research Strategy (PROGRESS) Partnership (G0902393/99558)
  • Medical Research Council, Arthritis Research UK, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Chief Scientist Office, Economic and Social Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, NIHR, National Institute for Social Care and Health Research, and Wellcome Trust (MR/K006584/1)
  • NIHR Doctoral Fellowship (DRF-2009–02–50)
  • Medical Research Council (U105260558)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Blood Pressure and Hypertension Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Health and Disease Prevention
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Sodium Intake and Health
Keywords
blood pressure, cardiovascular disease incidence, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, lifetime risk, healthy life years lost, intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, myocardial infarction, stable angina, peripheral arterial disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, stroke, hypertension, age-specific associations, blood pressure-lowering treatment, J-curve
MeSH terms
Acute Disease, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Angina Pectoris, Antihypertensive Agents, Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Diseases, Chronic Disease, England, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Hypertension, Male, Medical Record Linkage, Middle Aged, Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, Incidence, Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal, Age Distribution, Risk Assessment, Intracranial Hemorrhage, Hypertensive

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