TUESDAY, June 22, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- With the help of an ongoing study of Americans that began almost two decades ago, researchers have discovered that high-strung young adults are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure later in life.
The findings may not seem surprising. But scientists say they're important because they add a new perspective to the ongoing debate over how stress affects the body.
"It helps us to understand that there is an association between how patients respond to stress and how likely they are to develop high blood pressure," said study co-author Dr. Mary A. Whooley, an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California at San Francisco. "Future studies will determine what factors account for that relationship."
Researchers examined statistics from the nationwide CARDIA study, which has been tracking the heart health of thousands of black and white Americans since the mid-1980s. When the study began, the 5,115 participants were 18-30 years old and lived in the cities of Chicago, Minneapolis, Birmingham, Ala., and Oakland, Calif.
Early in the study, researchers studied how the blood pressure of the participants responded to three "stress tests." In one test, they had to plunge a hand into ice-cold water and keep it there for 45 seconds. In another, they took part in a brain-straining exercise in which they had to trace the shape of a star using its mirror image. And in the last test, they played a 1980s-era video game.
Researchers have checked the participants every few years ever since the study began. In the new study, Whooley and colleagues looked at the blood pressure levels of the remaining participants 13 years after the stress tests. At that time, the participants were in their 30s and 40s.
They report their findings in the current online edition of the journal Circulation.
It's natural for blood pressure to rise as people undergo stress, but it shot up to high levels in some of the young adults, Whooley said, adding that they appeared to be especially susceptible to stressful events, which that wasn't good news for their future health.
"We found that the subjects who had the greatest elevations in their response were more likely to develop higher blood pressure later in life," she said.
It didn't matter whether the participants were closely matched in age, education level and body type or not. Also, those who were most stressed as young adults developed high blood pressure earlier than their counterparts.
The findings are especially useful because the researchers looked at a diverse group of people from a variety of occupations, said David S. Krantz, chair of the department of medical and clinical psychology at Uniformed Services University, which trains military doctors. Previous studies, which had contradictory results, looked at special groups of people, such as medical students, he said.
What's going on? "That's the million-dollar question," Whooley said. "Hopefully, we'll find that out in the future."
Some experts speculate that genetics may make some people respond differently to stress, she added. Psychological factors could play a role too.
And it's possible that there's no direct, cause-and-effect connection between susceptibility to stress and high blood pressure. Whooley's study only shows that there's a link.
Regardless, people should try to manage their stress and avoid letting it send their blood pressure through the roof, Krantz said.
Experts say physical activity can help, and so can a good diet. That is, if you actually exercise and eat well instead of stressing about how you should do a better job at both.
More information
Learn how to lower your blood pressure at National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
