NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - High blood pressure can take years off both
life expectancy and time lived free of disease, according to a study
published Monday.

The research, based on data from a long-running U.S. heart-health study,
found that the impact of high blood pressure on life expectancy may be
more significant than previously estimated.

Researchers found that high blood pressure at the age of 50 shaved about
5 years off men's and women's lives. It also caused them to endure 7 more
years with cardiovascular disease compared with their peers who had
normal blood pressure in middle-age.

The findings appear in an online issue of Hypertension, a journal
published by the     American Heart Association.

It's well known that high blood pressure raises the risk of heart
disease, stroke and kidney failure, but only a few studies have looked at
how blood pressure affects life expectancy, according to the authors of
the new study.

And no one, it appears, had ever tried to quantify the effects of high
blood pressure in terms of years spent with and without cardiovascular
disease, lead study author Dr. Oscar H. Franco told Reuters Health.

The current findings suggest that getting high blood pressure down to the
normal range -- or preventing it in the first place -- could add disease-
free years to people's lives, according to Franco, of Erasmus University
Medical Center Rotterdam in The Netherlands.

The researchers obtained their findings using data from the Framingham
Heart Study, which, begun by U.S. health officials in 1948, has collected
decades' worth of data on cardiovascular risk factors among more than
5,000 men and women.

The new analysis is based on 3,128 of those adults, who were followed for
nearly 28 years, on average.

Overall, Franco's team found, men and women who had normal blood pressure
at age 50 gained 7-plus years free of cardiovascular disease, compared
with those who had high blood pressure when they were 50 years old.

Total life expectancy was 5 years longer for adults with normal blood
pressure.

High blood pressure is defined as a blood pressure reading at or above
140/90 mm/Hg. Normal blood pressure is anything below 120/80 mm/Hg. The
first number, or systolic reading, reflects the blood pressure when the
heart is contracting; the second number, or diastolic reading, reflects
blood pressure when the heart relaxes between contractions.

Based on the current study, the effect of those numbers of people's life
expectancy may be greater than previously estimated, according to Franco.
This, he said, emphasizes the "global need to improve blood pressure
control."

To keep blood pressure in check, experts advise maintaining a normal
weight, exercising regularly, abstaining from smoking and eating a diet
rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and moderate in salt and
alcohol.

SOURCE: Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association, August
2005.