Borderline high blood pressure a threat for young people
Young adults with borderline high blood pressure, known as pre-hypertension, are more likely later in life to have calcium deposits in their coronary arteries, a new study finds. “They’re too young to have very many heart attacks and strokes,” lead author Dr. Mark J. Pletcher said of the 3,560 participants whose ages were 18 to 30 when the study started. “But looking at coronary calcium is a way of measuring atherosclerosis, which is a strong predictor of heart attacks.” Almost 20 percent of the people in the study developed pre-hypertension – blood pressure higher than the recommended 120 over 80 but below the 140 over 80 reading of treatable high blood pressure – before the age of 35, HealthDay.com reports. Heart scans showed accumulation of calcium deposits in their heart arteries during the 20-year study. “What we have shown is that these low-level elevations, above 120 over 80, appear to be associated with atherosclerosis later in life and probably with heart attacks and stroke,” said Pletcher, an assistant professor of epidemiology, biostatistics and medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. The findings were published in the July 15 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

TAGS: Blood, Borderline, Heart, Pressure

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