Hypertension (High BP) Risk III
The findings are as follows:
For each increase of 20 mm Hg in the systolic blood pressure, (or, equivalently, a 10 mm Hg rise in diastolic BP), there is a more than twofold increase in the stroke death rate.
Similarly, there is a factor-of-two-increase in the death rate resulting from heart disease and other vascular causes.
These results are the same for men and women.
For patients above the age of 80, these factors are somewhat lower.
The risk continues to decrease as the systolic pressure drops below normal (120).
The conclusion is dramatic, in terms of risk - the more one can lower one's BP, the lower the risk. Alternatively, the risk rises rapidly with BP - someone with a systolic BP of 180 has more than 8 times the risk of someone with systolic BP of 120.
In the general population,
the risk of stroke is 18% of the total risk for cardiovascular diseases, and a third of the CHD risk. It is noteworthy that both stroke and CHD rise at the same rate with increasing BP - heart disease is "still" the number one killer, even at high blood pressure!