Association between mortality and blood pressure variability in hypertensive and normotensive elders: A cohort study

Abstract

To evaluate the association between blood pressure variability (BPV) and mortality in the elderly, all blood pressure measurements recorded in a cohort of individuals 65 years and older were collected and the association between BPV coefficient of variation (BPV divided by mean arterial pressure) was calculated. Mortality during a 10-year period was compared between BPV coefficient of variation quartiles. Overall, 39 502 individuals 65 years and older were included in the analysis, of which 31 737 (80.3%) were hypertensive; 12 817 (32.4%) individuals died during the study period. Mortality was lower in the second and third blood pressure quartiles compared with the first quartile in both the normotensive and hypertensive groups. In both normotensive and hypertensive individuals, mortality was higher in the fourth quartile, but it was more pronounced in normotensive individuals (odds ratio, 1.18; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-1.31 in hypertensive individuals vs odds ratio, 1.27; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.37 in normotensive individuals). High and low BPV are associated with mortality in both hypertensive and normotensive elders.

Keywords: epidemiology; hypertension in the elderly; hypertension-general.

Figure 1

Number of blood pressure (BP) measurements available in the study cohort. Only patients who had at least five BP measurements in different years were included in the analysis

Figure 2

Distribution of blood pressure variability coefficient of variance (CV) in the study population