- Hypertension shortens lifespan
If you’re middle-aged and have hypertension, your high blood pressure may shorten your lifespan. A study by Dutch researchers reported in the journal Hypertension (Volume 46, page 260) found that by maintaining normal blood pressure readings people live longer and have a better chance of avoiding cardiovascular disease.
The researchers looked at data from more than 3,100 men and women participating in the well-known Framingham Heart Study. Blood pressure measurements were taken at age 50, and the participants were followed for 28 years on average. People with normal blood pressure at age 50 lived an average of five years longer than those who had high blood pressure at this age. In addition, 50-year-old people with normal blood pressure lived seven years longer without cardiovascular diseases (such as heart attacks and strokes) than 50-year-olds who had hypertension. Weight and body mass index (BMI) increased in men and women as their blood pressure rose. There was also an increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease as blood pressure levels climbed.
This effect of high blood pressure on life expectancy, write the study authors, is larger than previously estimated and clearly shows how important blood pressure control is to survival, particularly to years lived free from cardiovascular disease.
- When’s the best time to take your daily aspirin?
If you’re taking a daily aspirin tablet to reduce your risk of a heart attack, perhaps you should consider the time of day you take it. A study from Spain reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (volume 46, page 975) found that aspirin at bedtime might have the greatest heart benefit.
The researchers studied 328 people with mild (and untreated) high blood pressure, and randomized them to take a daily low-dose (100 mg) aspirin tablet either upon awakening or at bedtime, or not to take aspirin at all. Three months after the trial began, the morning aspirin users experienced a slight increase in their blood pressure (by 3 mm Hg systolic/2 mm Hg diastolic), but blood pressure decreased in people taking aspirin at night (by 7mm Hg systolic/5 mm Hg diastolic). Individuals not using aspirin also had a slight dip in their blood pressure.
The study authors write that taking a heart-protective aspirin tablet at bedtime instead of some other time during the day could be particularly helpful for people with mild high blood pressure who are struggling to lower their blood pressure despite lifestyle measures. However, these results need to be confirmed before doctors start recommending that a daily aspirin be taken at night, rather than at other times of the day, to lower blood pressure.
For more Alerts and Special Reports, please visit the Hypertension and Stroke Topic page.
