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Life course trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts

Life course trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts
Life course trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts
Background: Much of our understanding of the age-related progression of systolic blood pressure (SBP) comes from cross-sectional data, which do not directly capture within-individual change. We estimated life course trajectories of SBP using longitudinal data from seven population-based cohorts and one predominantly white collar occupational cohort, each from the United Kingdom and with data covering different but overlapping age periods.

Methods and Findings: Data are from 30,372 individuals and comprise 102,583 SBP observations spanning from age 7 to 80+y. Multilevel models were fitted to each cohort. Four life course phases were evident in both sexes: a rapid increase in SBP coinciding with peak adolescent growth, a more gentle increase in early adulthood, a midlife acceleration beginning in the fourth decade, and a period of deceleration in late adulthood where increases in SBP slowed and SBP eventually declined. These phases were still present, although at lower levels, after adjusting for increases in body mass index though adulthood. The deceleration and decline in old age was less evident after excluding individuals who had taken antihypertensive medication. Compared to the population-based cohorts, the occupational cohort had a lower mean SBP, a shallower annual increase in midlife, and a later midlife acceleration. The maximum sex difference was found at age 26 (+8.2 mm Hg higher in men, 95% CI: 6.7, 9.8); women then experienced steeper rises and caught up by the seventh decade.

Conclusions: Our investigation shows a general pattern of SBP progression from childhood in the UK, and suggests possible differences in this pattern during adulthood between a general population and an occupational population.

1549-1277
e1000440
Wills, Andrew K.
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Lawlor, Debbie A.
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Matthews, Fiona E.
59ac64aa-aebc-4502-ae70-0feffb5aa3f1
Aihie Sayer, Avan
fb4c2053-6d51-4fc1-9489-c3cb431b0ffb
Bakra, Eleni
b0fa4a8b-70a0-404c-8493-5144b8b09d91
Ben-Shlomo, Yoav
df80bd02-a908-4296-b293-825d42203729
Benzeval, Michaela
ab50271c-3345-4945-9234-7039039386d6
Brunner, Eric
ab130c72-a4ae-499d-86bf-7fbb1283c5fe
Cooper, Rachel
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Kivimaki, Mika
be7a46cc-c9fe-48f5-b998-886f6dfba451
Kuh, Diana
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Muniz-Terrera, Graciela
d37a16d8-acef-4135-9e79-5a98abab9527
Hardy, Rebecca
99fecbaf-fc92-4354-aa02-cb904dd2bd32
Wills, Andrew K.
46f423e1-510f-49e2-9a26-5e846d84f3fd
Lawlor, Debbie A.
799826df-f115-4fb7-83ea-53c246c220d4
Matthews, Fiona E.
59ac64aa-aebc-4502-ae70-0feffb5aa3f1
Aihie Sayer, Avan
fb4c2053-6d51-4fc1-9489-c3cb431b0ffb
Bakra, Eleni
b0fa4a8b-70a0-404c-8493-5144b8b09d91
Ben-Shlomo, Yoav
df80bd02-a908-4296-b293-825d42203729
Benzeval, Michaela
ab50271c-3345-4945-9234-7039039386d6
Brunner, Eric
ab130c72-a4ae-499d-86bf-7fbb1283c5fe
Cooper, Rachel
24a4a55a-ccc1-4961-9b76-b89aa4eb2fdf
Kivimaki, Mika
be7a46cc-c9fe-48f5-b998-886f6dfba451
Kuh, Diana
4f3b51aa-21a0-4d68-be14-e1ed75448aaf
Muniz-Terrera, Graciela
d37a16d8-acef-4135-9e79-5a98abab9527
Hardy, Rebecca
99fecbaf-fc92-4354-aa02-cb904dd2bd32

Wills, Andrew K., Lawlor, Debbie A., Matthews, Fiona E., Aihie Sayer, Avan, Bakra, Eleni, Ben-Shlomo, Yoav, Benzeval, Michaela, Brunner, Eric, Cooper, Rachel, Kivimaki, Mika, Kuh, Diana, Muniz-Terrera, Graciela and Hardy, Rebecca (2011) Life course trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts. PLoS Medicine, 8 (6), e1000440. (doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000440). (PMID:21695075)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Much of our understanding of the age-related progression of systolic blood pressure (SBP) comes from cross-sectional data, which do not directly capture within-individual change. We estimated life course trajectories of SBP using longitudinal data from seven population-based cohorts and one predominantly white collar occupational cohort, each from the United Kingdom and with data covering different but overlapping age periods.

Methods and Findings: Data are from 30,372 individuals and comprise 102,583 SBP observations spanning from age 7 to 80+y. Multilevel models were fitted to each cohort. Four life course phases were evident in both sexes: a rapid increase in SBP coinciding with peak adolescent growth, a more gentle increase in early adulthood, a midlife acceleration beginning in the fourth decade, and a period of deceleration in late adulthood where increases in SBP slowed and SBP eventually declined. These phases were still present, although at lower levels, after adjusting for increases in body mass index though adulthood. The deceleration and decline in old age was less evident after excluding individuals who had taken antihypertensive medication. Compared to the population-based cohorts, the occupational cohort had a lower mean SBP, a shallower annual increase in midlife, and a later midlife acceleration. The maximum sex difference was found at age 26 (+8.2 mm Hg higher in men, 95% CI: 6.7, 9.8); women then experienced steeper rises and caught up by the seventh decade.

Conclusions: Our investigation shows a general pattern of SBP progression from childhood in the UK, and suggests possible differences in this pattern during adulthood between a general population and an occupational population.

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Published date: June 2011

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 192497
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/192497
ISSN: 1549-1277
PURE UUID: ce3650ab-2740-447c-9ff2-7b78155e3913

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Date deposited: 05 Jul 2011 09:07
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 03:50

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Contributors

Author: Andrew K. Wills
Author: Debbie A. Lawlor
Author: Fiona E. Matthews
Author: Avan Aihie Sayer
Author: Eleni Bakra
Author: Yoav Ben-Shlomo
Author: Michaela Benzeval
Author: Eric Brunner
Author: Rachel Cooper
Author: Mika Kivimaki
Author: Diana Kuh
Author: Graciela Muniz-Terrera
Author: Rebecca Hardy

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