Association of pulse pressure with all-cause and cause-specific mortality

Brachial pulse pressure (PP) was used as a measure of arterial stiffness, and we investigated whether PP was associated with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in a rural Chinese population. A total of 13,223 participants were enrolled in the Rural Chinese Cohort Study during 2007-2008 and followed up in 2013-2014. Data were collected by questionnaire interview, anthropometric, and laboratory measurements. A multivariate Cox proportional-hazard model was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of PP (increased by 1 standard deviation) for all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Subgroup analyses were conducted by sex and age. During a mean follow-up of 5.96 years, the all-cause mortality was 78.61/10000 person-years. The association of PP with all-cause and other causes of mortality was significant, and the adjusted HRs (95% CIs) were 1.16 (1.06-1.28), and 1.18 (1.00-1.40), respectively. On subgroup analyses, PP was positively associated with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in participants <65 years or males and positively associated with other causes of mortality in males. The risk of all-cause and other causes of mortality increased with increasing PP in a rural Chinese population. Higher PP may increase the risk of all-cause and CVD mortality for males and people <65 years as well as the risk of other causes of mortality for males in rural Chinese people.