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Ambulatory blood pressure and mortality: a population-based study
Tine Willum Hansen1, Jørgen Jeppesen, Susanne Rasmussen
1Research Center for Prevention and Health, Glostrup University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. tw@heart.dk
Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979)
|March 9, 2005
Summary
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring predicts mortality risk better than traditional office readings in Western adults. This study highlights its importance for assessing overall and cardiovascular mortality risk.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- The prognostic value of ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) for mortality in the general Western population remains unclear.
- Traditional office blood pressure (OBP) measurements may not fully capture an individual's cardiovascular risk.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between ABP and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.
- To compare the predictive power of ABP versus OBP for mortality outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Prospective study of 1700 Danish adults (41-72 years) without prior cardiovascular disease.
- Baseline measurements included ABP, OBP, and other risk factors.
- Follow-up for a mean of 9.5 years, with 174 deaths recorded.
Main Results:
- ABP significantly predicted both cardiovascular and all-cause mortality, with higher relative risks than OBP.
- OBP did not predict all-cause mortality, and its association with cardiovascular mortality was weaker than ABP.
- In multivariate models, only ABP remained a significant predictor of mortality.
Conclusions:
- Ambulatory blood pressure provides prognostic information on mortality beyond office blood pressure measurements.
- The risk associated with ABP is log-linear, without a clear threshold.
- Defining acceptable ABP levels requires considering other risk factors like age and smoking status.