Blood Pressure Change and Subclinical Target Organ Damage in Mid-Adulthood

Blood pressure (BP) is a dynamic trait associated with cardiovascular disease. We aimed to estimate age-specific BP levels and rates of change from childhood to mid-adulthood and to examine their associations with subsequent subclinical target organ damage.

We included 2508 participants from the Hanzhong Adolescent Hypertension Study with BP measured ≥4× from 1987 to 2023. Surrogate markers of target organ damage were assessed, including arterial stiffness, left ventricular hypertrophy, and albuminuria. Growth models were used to construct BP trajectories and estimate age-specific BP levels and rates of change (slopes).

Rates of change in BP at each age point from childhood to mid-adulthood were positively associated with arterial stiffness and albuminuria in mid-adulthood, independent of corresponding BP levels. The magnitude of the associations rose from childhood, peaked in adolescence, and declined thereafter. For example, odds ratios (95% CIs) per 1 SD increase in systolic BP change rates for arterial stiffness increased from 1.94 (1.69-2.24) at age 6 to 2.11 (1.82-2.44) at age 13, then declined to 1.13 (1.01-1.28) by age 52. Faster BP increases were more strongly associated with arterial stiffness and albuminuria than concurrent BP levels during childhood and adolescence, whereas the opposite trend was observed in young and mid-adulthood. Similar age-dependent trends were identified for left ventricular hypertrophy, with minor variations in the ages at which associations reached statistical significance.

Accelerated BP increases during childhood and adolescence show a stronger association with mid-adult subclinical target organ damage than increases occurring in adulthood.