High cholesterol may raise blood pressure-study
- From: "Blocked" <blockedthedoc@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 12 Dec 2005 15:35:28 -0800
High cholesterol may raise blood pressure-study
Rueters News
Dec 12, 2005
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
People with high cholesterol also have a greater risk of high blood
pressure, U.S. researchers reported on Monday in one of the first
studies to demonstrate that one may cause the other.
A study of 3,000 men monitored for 14 years showed that those who
developed the unhealthiest cholesterol levels raised their risk of
hypertension by 39 percent.
"There appears to be a significant association between increased
cholesterol levels and the risk of developing hypertension in healthy,
middle-aged men," said Howard Sesso, an epidemiologist at Brigham and
Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
"We looked at this same exact question in a study published a month ago
.... in women. We found the same thing," Sesso said in a telephone
interview.
While both conditions lead to heart disease, the No. 1 killer of
Americans and people in many other developed nations, Sesso said few
researchers had looked at whether high cholesterol could actually cause
high blood pressure.
He believes that the damage cholesterol causes to the walls of arteries
makes them less elastic, leading to high blood pressure. "Our findings
suggest we may have a new means of preventing hypertension, a
devastating public heath issue in this country," he said.
As many as 90 percent of U.S. adults with normal blood pressure at age
55 may develop hypertension in their lifetime, according to the
American Heart Association.
Unhealthy blood cholesterol is trickier to calculate as it involves
several different readings -- high total cholesterol, high levels of
low density lipoprotein or "bad" cholesterol and low levels of high
density lipoprotein or "good" cholesterol.
But the American Heart Association says nearly 107 million American
adults have total blood cholesterol values of more than 200, considered
the highest desirable level.
SIMILAR RISK FACTORS
The risk factors for high blood pressure and high cholesterol are
similar -- a diet rich in fat, low in whole grains, fruits and
vegetables and a lack of exercise.
Sesso's team started with more than 3,000 men taking part in a larger
study called the Physician's Health Study. At the beginning all had
healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Over the average of 14 years of follow-up, a third of the men developed
high blood pressure, the researchers reported in the latest issue of
the journal Hypertension.
Men with the worst levels of bad cholesterol had a 54 percent higher
risk of high blood pressure compared to the mean with the healthiest
levels.
Men with the highest levels of total cholesterol were 23 percent more
likely to develop hypertension than men with the lowest levels. But men
with the highest HDL or "good" cholesterol levels had a 32 percent
lower risk of high blood pressure than those with the lowest HDL
levels.
A second study, published in the journal Circulation, showed total
cholesterol levels have decreased in middle-aged to older adults but
are rising among younger adults.
A survey of 5,000 adults in Minnesota, ongoing for 20 years, showed
that drugs may be responsible.
"The older age groups use more lipid-lowering drugs. This may be
partially responsible for the continued reduction of their total
cholesterol," said Donna Arnett of the University of Alabama at
Birmingham, who led the study.
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: High cholesterol may raise blood pressure-study
- From: Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
- Re: High cholesterol may raise blood pressure-study
- Prev by Date: Re: Sudden Death at 33 y.o.
- Next by Date: Generic Simvastatin Will Be A Consumer Bonanza (Re: Statins - Can I refuse ?)
- Previous by thread: Re: OT: Cessation of Hostilities Poll
- Next by thread: Re: High cholesterol may raise blood pressure-study
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
