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(Hypertension. 2007;50:1006.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial Commentaries

Blood Pressure and Disability

Novus Orsa

Merrill F. Elias; Penelope K. Elias

From the Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono.

Correspondence to Merrill F. Elias, Department of Psychology, 5742 Little Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. E-mail MFElias@aol.com

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Disability has been defined as an inability to perform an action in a way that is consistent with the purpose of an organ or an organ system.¹ Preclinical disability, often detected by self-report instruments, is the term for functional limitations that are not clinically diagnosed but nonetheless represent a transition between impairment and disability.¹ Disability is a major public health problem,^1,2 yet there is little information currently available with respect to the role of blood pressure (BP) in its development.

It is clear that hypertension-associated diseases and events, eg, stroke, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, heart failure, and peripheral vascular disease, are risk factors for disability.^1,3,4 Considerably less attention has been focused on the more direct associations between hypertension and disability. In 1985, hypertension was related to disability in the Framingham Heart Study.³ Nine years later, Hubert and Fries⁵ reported an association between the diagnosis of hypertension and disability in a university runners club.

Thirteen years later, in this issue of Hypertension, Hajjar et al² report a statistically significant association between hypertension and disability and concurrent and prospective associations between systolic BP and disability among 999 stroke-free men and women participating in the Charleston Heart Study, 39% of whom were African American. Concurrently and prospectively measured systolic BP values were positively related to increasing disability as assessed by 3 functional measures: (1) Nagi’s Congruency in Medical and Self-Assessment of Disability Scale; (2) the Rosow-Breslaw Scale; and (3) the Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale. Thus, demonstration of a "dose-response" relationship . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Association Between Concurrent and Remote Blood Pressure and Disability in Older Adults

Ihab Hajjar, Daniel T. Lackland, L. Adrienne Cupples, and Lewis A. Lipsitz
Hypertension 2007 50: 1026-1032. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]