Lowering blood pressure is heart healthy

A new study in Hypertension, the Journal of the American Heart Association, suggests middle-age and older women could reduce their risk of developing cardiovascular disease by lowering their blood pressure.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), including coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, is the leading cause of death in the United States.

Major risk factors account for 85 percent of the risk for heart disease. They include high systolic blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.

Among those, high systolic pressure is the most important one.

Researchers investigated 9,357 adults from 11 countries whose average was 53 for more than 11 years to see the relation between cardiovascular disease and systolic blood pressure.

They used both ambulatory 24-hour blood pressure monitoring and conventional blood pressure measurements to help assess risk factors for heart disease associated with systolic high blood pressure.

The results showed the proportion of potentially preventable and reversible heart disease is almost 36 percent in women and 24 percent in men. 

 “By lowering systolic pressure by 15 mm Hg in hypertensive women, there would be an increased benefit in quality of life by the prevention of cardiovascular disease in about 40 percent in women compared to 20 percent in men," said Dr. Staessen, director of the Studies Coordinating Center in the Division of Cardiovascular Rehabilitation at the University of Leuven in Belgium.

The study encourages both women and health professionals to become more aggressive in controlling high systolic blood pressure.

Stephen Lau and editing by Aimee Keenan-Greene