- Research shows that young adults with high blood pressure may face a higher risk of cardiovascular and kidney disease later in life.
- The findings highlight the importance of maintaining healthy blood pressure at a younger age.
- Guidelines from the American Heart Association (AHA) recommend treating hypertension in adults with a predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease.
High blood pressure during young adulthood may be linked to a higher risk of heart disease and kidney disease later in life, according to new research.
The findings reinforced the importance of maintaining a healthy blood pressure at younger ages, particularly among adults under 40.
“High blood pressure is a known significant risk factor for developing both heart disease and kidney disease,” said Cheng-Han Chen, MD, board certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA, who wasn’t involved in the study.
“It is thus unsurprising, although still concerning, that long periods of elevated blood pressure in young adulthood would lead to premature cardiovascular and kidney events in middle age,” Chen told Healthline.
Hypertension is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease and premature death worldwide.
High blood pressure is also the most common and modifiable risk factor for both heart disease and stroke. This means that maintaining a healthy blood pressure is imperative to reducing the risk of or preventing heart disease, a major cardiac event, or stroke.
“Often we ignore elevated blood pressures in young adults, thinking that we’ll just watch it,” said Karishma Patwa, MD, board certified cardiologist at Manhattan Cardiology in NYC, who wasn’t involved in the study.
“The new data is reinforcing that screening and management should begin much earlier than midlife,” Patwa told Healthline.
The recent study analyzed health information of 291,887 adults from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database.
Each participant was 30 years old between 2002 and 2004, and received routine health screenings between the ages of 30 and 40.
The participants had no prior history of either heart disease or kidney disease before the age of 40.
The researchers calculated each participant’s cumulative blood pressure levels from ages 30 to 40 to account for how high it was and how long it stayed elevated.
The participants were followed for about 10 years after age 40. During this period, the development of heart or kidney disease was identified through national health service records. The diagnosis of chronic kidney disease was also confirmed by laboratory tests, conducted during the follow-up period.
The researchers found that those who had high blood pressure that remained elevated from age 30 to 40 had a higher risk of heart disease and kidney disease after 40.
Those who had a systolic (top number) blood pressure reading of around 10 mm Hg higher than their peers for about 10 years had a 27% higher risk of heart disease and a 22% higher risk of kidney disease.
Participants who had a diastolic blood pressure (bottom number) of around 5 mm Hg higher than their peers for about 10 years had a 20% higher risk of heart disease and 16% higher risk of kidney disease.
“I agree with these recommendations. 10-year cardiovascular risk predictors are limiting, especially in younger patients. I would, however, individualize my approach for each patient and look at their overall lifetime risk trajectory prior to starting medications,” said Patwa.
