Focus on blood pressure as a major risk factor

摘要

The main risk factor for disease and premature death worldwide is high blood pressure. The associations between blood pressure and fatal coronary artery disease and fatal stroke have been well demonstrated. However, little evidence exists from contemporary clinical practice on the associations between blood pressure and morbidity and mortality from specific cardiovascular disease conditions in different age groups. Also missing are results concerning lifetime risk for specific cardiovascular complications associated with hypertension. Eleni Rapsomaniki and colleagues now report results in The Lancet that extend our knowledge and understanding of blood pressure as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. This contemporary study in a primary-care setting assessed electronic health records for more than a million patients aged 30 years or older who did not have cardiovascular disease, and recorded initial cardiovascular morbidity during a median of 5.2 years of follow-up.