Trends in Systolic Blood Pressure in the Thousand Aviator Cohort Over a 24-year Period

Albert Oberman · Norman E. Lane · William R. Harlan · Ashton Graybiel · Robert E Mitchell

Jan 1967 · Naval Aerospace Medical Institute, Naval Aerospace Medical Center

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A cohort of 1056 normotensive, healthy, young men initially examined in 1940 at the mean age of 24 years was followed at three periodic intervals until 1964. The cohort demonstrated little change in mean systolic blood pressure beyond age 35; a portion of this cohort showed no rise of systolic blood pressure with age. If the men are classified according to systolic blood pressure in 1940, those men in the upper quintile tend to remain high; when classified by quintile in 1951, those men at the extremes maintained their relative position for the period of the study. Predictive utility of a systolic blood pressure may be a function of its actual level as well as the age of the individual. Two factors further influenced the systolic blood pressure of this cohort, namely parental longevity and weight gain independent of arm circumference. The effect of those factors separately and in combination changed as the cohort grew older. (Author).