Soluble Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products and Incident Hypertension in REGARDS

Black US adults experience a greater hypertension burden and have lower levels of soluble receptors for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE). sRAGE may reduce inflammation, which is itself a hypertension risk factor. We hypothesized that higher sRAGE levels are associated with a lower risk of incident hypertension in a cohort of Black and White adults.

The REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) enrolled 30,239 Black and White adults from the contiguous United States in 2003-2007; a second visit occurred in 2013-2016. sRAGE was measured at baseline by ELISA in 4,400 participants attending both visits. Hypertension was defined as BP > 140/90 mm Hg or use of antihypertensive medications. Participants with baseline hypertension were excluded. Poisson regression estimated incident hypertension risk ratios (RR) by sRAGE levels, adjusting for confounders.

Among 1,799 participants without baseline hypertension (mean [SD] age 62 [8] years, 55% females, 25% Black), 46% of Black participants and 31% of White participants developed hypertension. Median sRAGE was lower in Black than White persons (P < 0.0001). Relative to quartile 1, White participants in quartile 4 of sRAGE had a 24% lower risk of incident hypertension (RR 0.76; 95% CI 0.59, 0.96) in a minimally adjusted model, but no differences in a fully adjusted model (0.81; 0.63 to 1.05). There was no association of sRAGE with hypertension in Black participants.

Higher baseline sRAGE levels were not associated with lower risk of incident hypertension after adjusting for known confounders. Low sRAGE might represent adverse inflammation that drives hypertension rather than being a primary driver of hypertension development itself.