Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-019, USA.
Gerontology. 2013;59(5):392-400. doi: 10.1159/000350531. Epub 2013 May 15.
High blood pressure is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality. Japan has traditionally had higher levels of measured blood pressure than many Western countries, and reducing levels of hypertension has been a major focus of Japanese health policy over recent decades. In the West, hypertension is strongly associated with sociodemographic and behavioral (smoking and body mass index, BMI) factors; studies of the association between sociodemographic factors and biological indicators have not been fully explored in the elderly population of Japan using nationally representative survey data.
To describe hypertension prevalence rates with increasing age and to examine the link between sociodemographic and behavioral factors (including age, gender, education, residence, smoking, and BMI) and measures of blood pressure and overall hypertension in the Japanese population aged ≥68 years.
Data were collected in 2006 during the fourth wave of the Nihon University Japanese Longitudinal Study of Aging, a nationally representative sample of those ≥68. The analytic sample includes 2,634 participants. Pulse pressure, systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure, as well as hypertension, were regressed on sociodemographic and behavioral factors.
There is no significant difference in the prevalence of overall hypertension by age for men and women from ages 68-69 to 90+. Higher BMI and older age were linked to higher blood pressure and higher chance of having hypertension. More years of education and being female were associated with a lower likelihood of measured hypertension. Smoking, rural residence, and living alone were not significantly associated with the outcome measures.
The increase in hypertension with higher BMI raises concerns about future health in Japan as BMI increases. The lack of a relationship between smoking and any measure of blood pressure or hypertension is an indicator that smoking may have different effects in Japan than in other countries. Because there is no effect of living alone on blood pressure, compliance with drug regimes may not be enhanced by living with others in Japan.
高血压是心血管疾病和死亡率的一个重要危险因素。日本传统上的血压水平高于许多西方国家，近年来，降低高血压水平一直是日本卫生政策的主要重点。在西方，高血压与社会人口统计学和行为因素（吸烟和体重指数，BMI）密切相关；使用具有全国代表性的调查数据，对日本老年人群中社会人口统计学因素与生物指标之间的关联进行的研究尚未充分探讨。
描述随着年龄增长高血压的患病率，并检查社会人口统计学和行为因素（包括年龄、性别、教育、居住、吸烟和 BMI）与血压和日本≥68 岁人群总体高血压之间的联系。
数据于 2006 年在日本大学老龄化纵向研究的第四次浪潮中收集，这是一个≥68 岁人群的全国代表性样本。分析样本包括 2634 名参与者。将脉压、收缩压、舒张压和平均血压以及高血压回归到社会人口统计学和行为因素上。
男性和女性从 68-69 岁到 90+岁，高血压的总体患病率与年龄无关。较高的 BMI 和较高的年龄与血压升高和高血压的几率增加有关。受教育年限较长和女性与高血压的几率降低有关。吸烟、农村居住和独居与测量结果无显著相关性。
BMI 升高与高血压患病率增加相关，这引起了人们对日本未来健康的担忧。吸烟与任何血压或高血压测量值之间没有关系，这表明吸烟在日本的影响可能与其他国家不同。由于独居对血压没有影响，因此在日本与他人一起生活可能不会增强对药物治疗方案的遵守。
