Early Onset Hypertension Is Associated with Hypertensive End-Organ Damage Already by Mid-Life

Early-onset hypertension confers increased risk for cardiovascular mortality in the community. Whether early-onset hypertension also promotes the development of target end-organ damage (TOD), even by mid-life, has remained unknown. We studied 2680 middle-aged CARDIA Study participants (mean age 50±4 years, 57% women) who underwent up to eight serial blood pressure (BP) measurements between 1985–2011 (age range at baseline 18–30 years) in addition to assessments of echocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy, coronary calcification, albuminuria, and diastolic dysfunction in 2010–2011. Age of hypertension onset was defined as the age at first of two consecutively attended examinations with BP ≥140/90 mmHg or use of antihypertensive medication. Participants were divided in groups by hypertension onset age (