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Aims: Western Europeans have low blood levels of selenium (BSe), an antioxidant trace element. In a Flemish population, we investigated the cross-sectional and longitudinal association of blood pressure (BP) with BSe., Methods and Results: We randomly recruited 710 subjects (mean age 48.8 years; 51.8% women). We measured BP and BSe and kept participants in follow-up for BP. At baseline, systolic/diastolic BP averaged (SD) 130/77 (17.3/9.2) mmHg. BSe was 97.0 (19.0) microg/L. Of 385 participants with normal baseline BP (<130 and <85 mmHg), over 5.2 years (range 3.4-8.4 years), 139 developed high-normal BP (130-139/85-90 mmHg) or hypertension (>or=140/90 mmHg). In multivariate-adjusted cross-sectional analyses of men, a 20 microg/L ( approximately 1 SD) higher BSe was associated with lower BP with effect sizes of 2.2 mmHg systolic (95% CI -0.57 to -5.05; P = 0.009) and 1.5 mmHg diastolic (95% CI -0.56 to -2.44; P = 0.017). In prospective analyses of men, a 20 microg/L higher baseline BSe was associated with a 37% (95% CI -52 to -17; P = 0.001) lower risk of developing high-normal BP or hypertension. None of these associations was significant in women., Conclusion: Deficiency of selenium might be an underestimated risk factor for the development of high BP in European men.

Background: Many studies have analysed the relation between cardiovascular risk factors and oral contraceptive use in adult women, whereas information on the possible health effects of oral contraceptive use during adolescence is lacking., Design: The effect of current contraceptive pill use on blood pressure and serum total cholesterol concentration was studied in a cross-sectional sample of 120 adolescent girls with a mean age of 17.4 years., Methods: After the girls had rested for 5 minutes in the sitting position, trained study nurses measured blood pressure three times consecutively using a mercury sphygmomanometer. The nurses also administered a questionnaire gathering information on the use of oral contraceptives, smoking and parental social class. In the morning blood samples were taken for the measurement of serum total cholesterol., Results: Mean age (+/-SD) was 17.4+/-0.8 years. Blood pressure averaged (+/-SD) 108.7+/-9.9 systolic and 68.0+/-8.2 mmHg diastolic. Serum total cholesterol was 4.5+/-0.7 mmol/l. Forty-nine girls (41%) were taking the contraceptive pill. Of these, 44 (90%) were on a combination of ethinyloestradiol (20-35 microg) and a progestogen, four (8%) on anti-androgens (35 microg) and one (2%) only on a progestogen. After adjustment for age, body mass index, smoking and alcohol status systolic blood pressure was 4.6 mmHg higher (95% CI 1.2-8.1; P<0.001) in current pill users than in girls not currently on the pill (111.4 versus 106.8 mmHg). Adjusted for the aforementioned covariates, diastolic blood pressure was not related to pill use (68.2 versus 67.8 mmHg; P=0.7). Serum total cholesterol was 0.43 mmol/l (95% CI 0.18-0.60; P=0.001) higher among girls using oral contraceptives (4.7 versus 4.3 mmol/l), irrespective of whether or not the model was adjusted for age, body mass index, smoking and alcohol status., Conclusions: In 17-year-old girls, the use of oral contraceptives was associated with a nearly 5 mmHg higher systolic blood pressure and a 0.4 mmol/l higher level of serum total cholesterol. The long-term prognostic implications of our findings remain to be elucidated.

Background: The relationship between LV mass and systolic blood pressure at baseline was studied in the pooled database of the APTH (n = 408) and THOP (n = 376) trials., Methods: Partial correlation coefficients were calculated between electrocardiographic and echocardiographic LV mass at baseline and different types of blood pressure, that is, office blood pressure (OBP), 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP), daytime ABP and night-time ABP., Results: Electrocardiographic LV mass correlated equally well (P < or = 0.001) with all types of systolic blood pressure (partial r = 0.19 to 0.22 for the Sokolow-Lyon index, 0.20 to 0.22 for the sum of the Sokolow-Lyon index plus the R-wave in aVl, and 0.12 to 0.19 for the Cornell voltage). The findings were similar for echocardiographic LV mass index (partial r = 0.15 to 0.22). However, for echocardiographic mean wall thickness, there was a stronger association with ABP than with OBP (partial r = 0.30 for 24-h ABP, 0.29 for daytime ABP, 0.26 for night-time ABP versus 0.15 for OBP (P < or = 0.05)). CONCLUSIONS In the combined dataset of the APTH and THOP trials, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic LV mass at baseline correlated significantly with all types of systolic blood pressure. For mean wall thickness, the relationship was stronger for ABP than OBP.

There is no general agreement as to whether low-level lead exposure increases blood pressure. The present study examined the correlation between blood pressure and blood lead in the NHANES III database (1988-1994). Analyses were performed for all adults (> or =20 years), and reported separately for white males (n = 4685), white females (n= 5138), black males (n = 1761) and black females (n = 2197). Significant covariates of blood pressure were selected by stepwise regression. The change in blood pressure that would be associated with a doubling of blood lead was calculated from the adjusted regression coefficients. Mean systolic/diastolic blood pressure was 123/76 mm Hg in white males, 119/70 mm Hg in white females, 126/77 mm Hg in black males and 121/72 mm Hg in black females. Median blood lead was 174 nmol/L (3.6 microg/dL), 101 nmol/L (2.1 microg/dL), 203 nmol/L (4.2 microg/dL) and 111 nmol/L (2.3 microg/dL), respectively. For a doubling of blood lead, the changes in systolic blood pressure were 0.3 (95% confidence interval: -0.2 to 0.7, P= 0.29), 0.1 (-0.4 to 0.5, P = 0.80), 0.9 (0.04 to 1.8, P = 0.04) and 1.2 (0.4 to 2.0, P = 0.004) mm Hg, respectively and the changes in diastolic blood pressure were -0.6 (-0.9 to -0.3, P = 0.0003), -0.2 (-0.5 to -0.1, P = 0.13), 0.3 (-0.3 to 1.0, P = 0.28) and 0.5 (0.01 to 1.1, P = 0.047) mm Hg, respectively. In conclusion, there is no consistent relationship between blood pressure and blood lead in the NHANES III dataset.