Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, Vol 50, Issue 1 M1-M6, Copyright © 1995 by The Gerontological Society of America
Predictors of the age-related increase in blood pressure in men and women
AW Gardner and ET Poehlman
Department of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore.
BACKGROUND. The age-related increase in blood pressure frequently observed
in men and women may be more related to deleterious alterations in physical
fitness, body composition, and diet than to a true aging phenomenon. Our
purposes were to: (a) characterize the relationship between age and blood
pressure in normotensive men and women; (b) identify physiological
predictors of the age-related increase in blood pressure; and (c) examine
whether the relationship between age and blood pressure persists after
controlling for differences in these predictor variables. METHODS. Three
hundred and sixty four Caucasian men (17-80 yr) and 215 Caucasian women
(18-81 yr) were characterized for supine resting blood pressure, peak
oxygen consumption, body composition, body fat distribution, plasma insulin
and glucose concentrations, and nutritional intake. RESULTS. In men, the
relationship between age and mean arterial pressure (MAP) (r = .25, p <
.01) was no longer significant (partial r = .07, p = .20; 0.03 mmHg
increase per year) after four predictor variables of MAP (fat mass, sum of
9 skinfolds, alcohol intake, and supine heart rate) were statistically
controlled. In women, the relationship between age and MAP (r = .44, p <
.01) no longer existed in women younger than 62 years of age (partial r =
.06, p = .46; .04 mmHg increase per year) after three predictor variables
of MAP (waist-to-thigh ratio, supine heart rate, and alcohol intake) were
held constant, whereas in women older than 62 the relationship persisted
(partial r = .37, p < .01; 0.9 mmHg increase per year). CONCLUSION. In
healthy Caucasian men and women between 17-81 years of age: (a) The
relationship between MAP and age was stronger in women than in men,
primarily due to an accelerated increase in MAP in women older than 62
years of age; (b) the age- related increase in MAP in men was primarily
related to an increase in body fatness, whereas in women the distribution
of fat was the primary factor; and (c) after the influence of the predictor
variables of MAP were controlled, the relationship between MAP and age
persisted in women beyond 62 years of age, but not in women younger than
age 62 or in men of any age.
