Healthy lifestyle factors and risk of cardiovascular events and mortality in treatment-resistant hypertension: the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study.
Academic Article
Overview
abstract
Few data exist on whether healthy lifestyle factors are associated with better prognosis among individuals with apparent treatment-resistant hypertension, a high-risk phenotype of hypertension. The purpose of this study was to assess the association of healthy lifestyle factors with cardiovascular events, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular mortality among individuals with apparent treatment-resistant hypertension. We studied participants (n=2043) from the population-based Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study with apparent treatment-resistant hypertension (blood pressure ≥140/90 mm Hg despite the use of 3 antihypertensive medication classes or the use of ≥4 classes of antihypertensive medication regardless of blood pressure control). Six healthy lifestyle factors adapted from guidelines for the management of hypertension (normal waist circumference, physical activity ≥4 times/week, nonsmoking, moderate alcohol consumption, high Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet score, and low sodium-to-potassium intake ratio) were examined. A greater number of healthy lifestyle factors were associated with lower risk for cardiovascular events (n=360) during a mean follow-up of 4.5 years. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios [HR (95% confidence interval)] for cardiovascular events comparing individuals with 2, 3, and 4 to 6 versus 0 to 1 healthy lifestyle factors were 0.91 (0.68-1.21), 0.80 (0.57-1.14), and 0.63 (0.41-0.95), respectively (P-trend=0.020). Physical activity and nonsmoking were individual healthy lifestyle factors significantly associated with lower risk for cardiovascular events. Similar associations were observed between healthy lifestyle factors and risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. In conclusion, healthy lifestyle factors, particularly physical activity and nonsmoking, are associated with a lower risk for cardiovascular events and mortality among individuals with apparent treatment-resistant hypertension.
