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High blood pressure is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Previous studies showing a blood pressure decline in recent decades lack data to follow individuals born in different decades from early and middle adulthood to older age. We investigated changes in age-specific blood pressure by repeated measurements in 37 973 women and men born 1905 to 1977 (aged 20–89 years) examined ≤5× between 1979 and 2008 in the population-based Tromsø Study. Mixed models were used to estimate time trends. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased from 1979 to 2008 in both genders in the age groups 30 to 89 years. The decrease was similar in the 80th percentile and the 20th percentile of the population blood pressure distribution. The decrease in systolic blood pressure in age group 40 to 49 years was 10.6 mm Hg in women and 4.5 mm Hg in men. Systolic blood pressure increased with age in women and men born 1920 to 1949, whereas a decrease or flattening of curve was observed in the younger birth cohorts. Thus, we found both time periodic and cohort effects, and trends were more pronounced in women than in men. The findings suggest changes in blood pressure in the population rather than an effect of treatment of high-risk individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a research which examines the association of multiple protein biomarkers with the 10-year risk of incident first-ever myocardial infarction (MI) and identifies a clinically significant risk model in samples from a longitudinal study of men and women in Tromsø, Norway. The study found several clinically significant biomarkers adjusted for traditional risk factors including apolipoprotein B/apolipoprotein A1 ratio, kallikrein, and matrix metalloproteinase 9.

The article focuses on comparison of comparing contemporary bare-metal stents (BMS) and second-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) inpatients with stable or unstable coronary artery disease, done by Norwegian Coronary Stent Trial (NORSTENT). Topics discussed are test conducted on the basis of factors such as sex, age and medical history, European guidelines for safety outcomes, and growing evidence of stent thrombosis in DES stents compared to BMS stents.