Healthy Lifestyle and Blood Pressure Variability in Young Adults

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the relationships between healthy lifestyle metrics and blood pressure variability (BPV) in young and healthy adults.

Methods: A population-based sample of 1,999 individuals aged 25-41 years was investigated. A lifestyle-score from 0 (most unhealthy) to 7 (most healthy) was calculated by giving one point for each of the following components: never smoking cigarettes, adhering to a healthy diet, performing moderate or intense physical activity, having a body mass index <25 kg/m2, a total cholesterol <200 mg/dl, a glycated hemoglobin <5.7%, or a conventional BP <120/80 mm Hg. Standardized ambulatory 24-hour BP measurements were obtained in all individuals. BPV was defined as the SD of all individual ambulatory BP recordings. We constructed multivariable linear regression models to assess the relationships between the lifestyle-score and BPV. None of the results were adjusted for multiple testing.

Results: Median age was 37 years and 46.8% were men. With increasing lifestyle-score, systolic and diastolic BPV is decreasing linearly (P for trend <0.0001), even after multivariable adjustment. Per 1-point increase in lifestyle-score, the β-coefficient (95% confidence interval) for systolic and diastolic 24-hour BPV was -0.03 (-0.03; -0.02) and -0.04 (-0.05; -0.03), respectively, both P for trend <0.0001. These relationships were attenuated but remained statistically significant after additional adjustment for mean individual BP.

Conclusion: In this study of young and healthy adults, adopting a healthy lifestyle was associated with a lower BPV. These associations were independent of mean BP levels.