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Research conducted at Tohoku University has provided new information about hypertension risk factors



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This article was published in Disease Prevention Week, which you can subscribe to online.

2007 NOV 20 -- Scientists discuss in 'Stroke risk in systolic and combined systolic and diastolic hypertension determined using ambulatory blood pressure. The Ohasama study' new findings in hypertension. Researchers in Sendai, Japan conducted a study "To investigate the risk of stroke in subjects with isolated systolic hypertension (ISH), isolated diastolic hypertension (IDH), and combined systolic and diastolic hypertension (SDH) in a Japanese general population, we used 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) and casual-screening blood-pressure (CBP) readings Subtypes of hypertension were defined based on systolic blood pressure (SBP) >135 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) >80 mm Hg for 24-h ABP, and SBp >140 mm Hg or DBp >90 mm Hg for CBP. We obtained 24-h ABP and CBP data for 1271 (40% male) subjects aged >or=40 years (mean age, 61 years) without a history of symptomatic stroke; their stroke-free survival was then determined."

"The prognostic significance of each subtype of hypertension was determined by Cox proportional hazard analysis There were 113 symptomatic strokes during follow-up (mean time, 11 years). Compared with normotension, among the hypertension subtypes determined by 24-h ABP, the adjusted relative hazards (RHs) of stroke were 2.24 for ISH (p=.002) and 2.39 for SDH (p=.0004). The association was less marked among subtypes determined by CBP (RH=1.40 and p=.13 for ISH; RH=2.07 and p=.017 for SDH)," wrote R. Inoue and colleagues, Tohoku University.

The researchers concluded: "The IDH group was excluded from the Cox analysis because both the prevalence and the number of events were low in this group Isolated systolic hypertension, as determined by 24-h ABP measurements, was associated with a high risk of stroke, similar to that found in SDH subjects; this suggests that the prognosis of hypertensive patients would be improved by focusing treatment on 24-h systolic ABP."

Inoue and colleagues published the results of their research in American Journal of Hypertension (Stroke risk in systolic and combined systolic and diastolic hypertension determined using ambulatory blood pressure. The Ohasama study. American Journal of Hypertension, 2007;20(10):1125-31).

For additional information, contact R. Inoue, 21st Century COE Program Comprehensive Research and Education Center for Planning of Drug Development and Clinical Evaluation, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

The publisher of the American Journal of Hypertension can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Inc., 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010-1710, USA.

Keywords: Japan, Sendai, Hypertension Risk Factors, Hypertension.

This article was prepared by Disease Prevention Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2007, Disease Prevention Week via NewsRx.com.