Blood Pressure in Young Blacks and Whites: Relevance of Obesity and Lifestyle Factors in Determining Differences
Key result
Adjusting for obesity and lifestyle factors substantially reduced black-white diastolic blood pressure differences by 21% to 75% for men and 49% to 129% for women over 7 years of follow-up.
Why the study?
Do differences in obesity and lifestyle factors explain the higher blood pressure in young black adults compared to white adults?
Population
4,146 young adults ages 18 to 30 years at baseline
Design
Cohort
Follow-up
7 years
Authors
Discussion
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Implication
Obesity and lifestyle factors largely mediate racial diastolic BP differences; leaves open whether targeted interventions narrow gaps in young adults.
Key Points
- This study analyzes how lifestyle factors contribute to blood pressure differences between young black and white adults.
- Utilized data from the CARDIA study involving 1154 black women, 853 black men, 1126 white women, and 1013 white men.
- Analyzed data from four examinations over 7 years using a method that assessed both cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships.
- Investigated associations between blood pressure and factors like body mass index, alcohol intake, physical activity, and cigarette use.
- Blacks exhibited higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure than whites at all examinations.
- After adjusting for obesity and lifestyle factors, black-white diastolic blood pressure differences decreased significantly: 21% to 75% for men, 49% to 129% for women.
- Similar reductions were observed for systolic blood pressure differences.
Study Design
Type
Cohort (n=4,146)
Multicenter
Yes
Structured PICO
Do differences in obesity and lifestyle factors explain the higher blood pressure in young black adults compared to white adults?
P
Population
4,146 young adults (1154 black women, 853 black men, 1126 white women, and 1013 white men) ages 18 to 30 years at baseline
O
Outcome
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure differences between black and white young adults over 7 yearssurrogate
Differences in obesity and lifestyle factors largely explain the higher baseline blood pressure and greater increase over time in black young adults relative to whites.
Cite This Study
Liu et al. (1996) conducted a cohort in Blood pressure (n=4,146). Obesity and lifestyle factors was evaluated on Diastolic and systolic blood pressure differences. Adjusting for obesity and lifestyle factors substantially reduced black-white diastolic blood pressure differences by 21% to 75% for men and 49% to 129% for women over 7 years of follow-up.