Type A behavior pattern and change in blood pressure from childhood to adolescence. The Minneapolis Children's Blood Pressure Study.
The association of the Type A behavior pattern with change in blood pressure was examined in a multiethnic sample of schoolchildren. Blood pressure was assessed in 1978 (mean age = 8 years) and approximately biannually thereafter through 1987-1990, when a post-high school screening was completed. The Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH) was completed by the teachers of a sample of participants in 1982 (n = 502). The Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) was completed by all adolescents who participated in the post-high school screening (n = 816). Males were more likely to be classified as Type A than were females by the JAS and the MYTH. Type A status was not associated cross-sectionally with elevated blood pressure. JAS-assessed Type B males had significantly higher mean post-high school fourth- and fifth-phase diastolic blood pressures than did Type A males (70.2 mmHg vs. 68.2 mmHg, p < 0.05; 68.1 mmHg vs. 65.2 mmHg, p < 0.01). JAS-assessed Type A/B status was not associated with 10-year change in blood pressure. MYTH-determined Type B females tended to have higher diastolic blood pressures than MYTH-determined Type A females throughout the 10-year study period. Results from this study did not confirm the hypothesis that Type A participants would have significantly higher blood pressures than Type B participants at the time of Type A assessment; nor did they confirm the hypothesis that Type A participants would exhibit greater increases in blood pressure than Type B participants over a 10-year period.
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Miami, FL 33101, USA.
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Lee
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Gomez-Marin
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Prineas
D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D014434:Type A Personality