NHLBI IN THE PRESS

Most African Americans have high blood pressure before age 55

Three in four African American men and women are likely to develop high blood pressure by the age of 55, according to an NHLBI-funded study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. That is in comparison to 55 percent of white men and 40 percent of white women in the same age range.

The researchers identified 3,890 participants from the NHLBI-funded Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study who enrolled in the study between the ages 18 to 30 years without high blood pressure.

The analysis was based on the latest guidelines issued in 2017 by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, which defined hypertension as systolic blood pressure of 130 millimeters of mercury, and diastolic blood pressure of at least 80.