High blood pressure in adolescence can lead to heart damage that worsens in adulthood. The results of a recent study show how alarming the situation really is.
It is known that increased blood pressure and high blood pressure are virtually silent killer diseases in adults, leading to kidney, heart, vascular and brain damage and subsequent death. The treatment of high blood pressure costs billions of dollars every year worldwide and is linked to the increase in emergencies such as Heart attack and stroke.
No harm where no benefit
In 2020, the United States Preventive Services Task Force concluded “that the evidence supporting screening for hypertension in children and adolescents is insufficient and that the balance of benefits and harms cannot be determined.” However, in 2022 it was reported that Elevated childhood systolic blood pressure is associated with risk of premature death in the mid-40s. However, the earliest point at which potential blood pressure-related heart damage becomes apparent in a general population of children and adolescents remains unknown. In addition, it is unclear whether hypertension greater than 130/85 mmHg plays a causal role in premature cardiac damage in the young population, since repeated echocardiographic measurements have not been performed.
The actual Study was conducted on 1,856 adolescents, 1,011 of whom were female. The adolescents were 17 years old at the start of the study and were followed for 7 years until young adulthood at the age of 24 years. Elevated blood pressure and hypertension and signs of cardiac damage were noted at initial and follow-up visits. Signs of structural damage to the heart are left ventricular hypertrophy and high relative wall thickness, while signs of damage to cardiac function are left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and increased left ventricular filling pressure.
Every gender is different
During the 7-year follow-up period, the prevalence of elevated and hypertensive blood pressure and cardiac damage in adolescents doubled. Under comprehensive control of fat mass, muscle mass, glucose, lipids, smoking status, sedentary work, physical activity and cardiovascular disease in the family, and using the cut-off values for the diagnosis of cardiac damage in adults, it was found that hypertension in both men and women lead to premature heart damage in women.
Importantly, there were specific characteristics of elevated blood pressure and blood pressure-related heart damage for each gender. So were higher systolic blood pressure and hypertension in men was associated with an approximately 10-30% increased risk of damage to cardiac function, but there was no risk of damage to cardiac structure. In contrast, in women, high systolic blood pressure and hypertension were associated with a 60-217% increased risk of structural cardiac damage and a 35-65% increased risk of functional cardiac damage.
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Alarming results
“These new findings on the harmful effects of high blood pressure and primary hypertension on the heart in the young population are alarming. Delaying the introduction of blood pressure screening in adolescence is unjustifiable given the amount of heart damage and potentially premature death that could be prevented. Therefore, health experts, health politicians, health journalists and bloggers, paediatricians and nurses are called upon to significantly raise awareness of the critical danger that high blood pressure and hypertension pose to young people. Legislative changes that require high blood pressure screening in adolescents should be pushed for, as this can significantly reduce the number of high blood pressure-related emergencies in adulthood,” says Andrew Agbaje, physician and clinical epidemiologist at the University of Eastern Finland.
This article is based on a press release from the University of Eastern Finland. We have the original publication for you here and linked in the text.
Image source: Nathan Dumlao, unsplash