Studies show that high blood pressure during middle-age has been linked to heart attack and stroke in late adulthood. Comprehensive analysis of data of 61,000 people confirmed that people with normal blood pressure at age 55 had a relatively low lifetime risk between 22% and 41% while those who had already developed high blood by 55 had a higher lifetime risk of heart attack and stroke between 42% and 69%.
Thus it is important to maintain normal blood pressure throughout middle age and even earlier, says Norrina Allen, Ph.D., of Chicago’s Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
