Failure of the cold pressor test to predict hypertension in black physicians: the Meharry Cohort Study.

As part of a longitudinal study of precursors for hypertension and atherosclerosis in a cohort of 315 black physicians, the predictive values of cold pressor reactivity were assessed. At initial evaluation, cold pressor tests were performed on all members of the cohort. At the 23- to 30- year follow-up, the participants were again examined and tho cumulative incidence of hypertension was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier curves in relationship to cold pressor reactivity. The relationship between follow-up hypertension status and baseline cold pressor reactivity was also examined in a logistic regression analysis in which other potential confounders were controlled.The cold pressor test had no value in predicting the occurrence of primary hypertension.