Mortality and Morbidity during 13.5 Years' Follow‐up in Relation to Blood Pressure

Abstract

A total of 973 50-year-old men, randomly selected from the general population in Göteborg, Sweden, were invited to a survey in 1963. Altogether 855 men (88%) participated. They have been followed up for 13.5 years, and this report presents mortality and morbidity during this time in relation to BP at the time of the initial examination. BP was strongly associated with mortality regardless of its cause. This was due to a close relation of BP to mortality from ischaemic heart disease and a weak but significant relation to mortality from cancer. BP was also strongly related to morbidity from myocardial infarction, stroke and angina pectoris, showed a tendency towards relation to morbidity from intermittent claudication and kidney stone, and was negatively related to morbidity from neoplasm for survivors. BP was also related to pension but not to sick leave. There is no indication of a decreasing importance of BP as a risk factor in this age period.