title: Secular trends and senescence of blood pressure in a Japanese and Yugoslavian cohort of the seven countries study.
abstract: The aim of this study was to: (i) separately estimate the effects of secular trends and senescence from the blood pressure (BP) data of a cohort follow-up study, and (ii) compare cohort and population stroke mortality trends with systolic blood pressure (SBP) senescence (aging) and secular trends. The data for this work came from a Japanese (n = 508 men) and a Yugoslavian cohort (n = 552 men) of the Seven Countries Study. This report is restricted to one cohort of each country for reason of data availability. Our analysis showed that BP rose with age even after correcting for the secular trends. A significant difference in SBP rise with age was found between Yugoslavian and Japanese cohorts (0.8 vs 1.4 mmHg/year, p = 0.0001). The secular and aging trends in SBP were significantly associated with the cohort and population stroke mortality in both cohorts. In conclusion, our results suggest that BP change with age does not result exclusively from biological aging; other factors also participate in the process. The rate of BP rise with age differs in two ethnically different populations. Difference in arterial stiffness and/or dietary salt intake between these populations may account for this observation.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. jwong@kilcom1.UCIS.Dal.Ca
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Hermann K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D013599:Systole / Q000502:physiology; D015022:Yugoslavia / Q000453:epidemiology