Hypertension rate could be as high as 20% in young adults
Nguyen Q. Epidemiology. 2011;22:532-541.
New findings have revealed that rates of hypertension among young adults may be close to 20%, nearly five times the rate found among participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Senior study researcher Kathleen Mullan Harris, PhD, and colleagues examined 14,252 participants from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), Wave IV study, and compared them with participants from NHANES 2007-2008 (n=733). All of the participants were aged 24 to 32 years and had BP of at least 140 mm Hg/90 mm Hg.
Overall, rates of hypertension were much higher for Add Health study participants (19% vs. 4%), although self-reported history was only slightly higher (11% vs. 9%). Among participants with self-reported hypertension, approximately 50% of those in Add Health vs. 20% in NHANES actually had elevated BP by study measurement.
Adjustments for differences in participant characteristics, use of antihypertensive medications, examination time, as well as the consumption of food, caffeine and cigarettes before BP measurement had little influence on these estimates.
“The large and unexplained differences between Add Health and NHANES merit further investigation,” the researchers wrote. “US CHD mortality and policy models rely heavily on NHANES systolic BP distributions and, in some cases, on optimistic assumptions regarding relatively small decreases of 0–1 mm Hg per year in population mean systolic BP.”
Also meriting further scrutiny, they wrote, is the prevalence of hypertension found among Add Health Wave IV participants, indicating an unexpectedly high risk for CVD among young adults in the United States.
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FDA: No increased risk for cancer with angiotensin receptor blockers
Angiotensin II receptor blockers do not increase the risk for cancer, despite a study from last year reporting a small increased risk for cancer among those taking the drug, according to a news release issued by the FDA.
The FDA’s finding was based on a review performed by the agency that began in July 2010, shortly after the study was published. The review looked specifically at 31 randomized controlled trials that compared those taking with those not taking angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) to determine the incidence of cancer.
“The FDA has completed its review of controlled trial data on more than 155,000 patients randomized to ARBs or other treatments — the largest evaluation of such data to date — and finds no evidence of an increased risk of cancer in patients who take an ARB,” Mary Ross Southworth, PharmD, deputy director for safety in the Division of Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in the release.
As a result of these findings, the FDA concluded in the release that any concern about a link between ARB use and development of cancer has been resolved, and that patients currently taking any antihypertensive medication should continue to unless advised by a health care professional.
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