JNC 7 category and risk of cardiovascular death in men: are there differences by age?

The authors evaluated the seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7) blood pressure classification scheme on the risk of cardiovascular disease death and whether the association varies by age. In a prospective cohort study, 53,163 apparently healthy participants aged 39-85 years were followed for 5.7 years. The authors calculated relative risks and 95% confidence intervals for cardiovascular disease death, adjusting for major risk factors, then stratified by age (39-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70-84 years) and performed a test of heterogeneity. Compared with men with normal blood pressure, those with prehypertension had a multivariate-adjusted relative risk of 1.02 (95% confidence interval, 0.73-1.42) and those with hypertension had a relative risk of 1.54 (95% confidence interval, 1.08-2.19). There was no strong age-related effect (P(interaction), 0.22). In this large cohort, the JNC 7 categorization of prehypertension was not associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease death, and there was no significant effect modification by age.