Sex Differences in Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Disease in the UK Biobank: A Prospective Cohort Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Recent studies show that cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk increases from a lower nadir of systolic blood pressure (SBP) in women than men, and increases thereafter at a greater rate. This has led to a suggestion that sex-based SBP thresholds are required. We investigated sex differences in the associations of SBP and incident atherosclerotic CVD.

Methods

This prospective study included 420,649 UK Biobank participants with no prior history of CVD. Age-adjusted sex-specific risks, relative risks (RRs), and risk differences (RDs) relating SBP to CVD were estimated using Poisson and Cox regression.

Results

Over 13.6 years of follow-up, there were 28,628 CVD events. CVD risks across BP levels showed a "J-shape," and were higher in men than women at all BP level

SUBMITTER: Kelly RK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12802948 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature