Blood pressure levels in young adulthood as predictors of hypertension and the fate of the cold pressor test.

In a study of the circulatory characteristics of 78 male medical students who later developed hypertension, no relationship was found between response to the cold pressor test and subsequent hypertension. Casual and resting blood pressure and heart rate measurements were all significantly higher in medical school in subjects who later developed hypertension than in two groups of control subjects who have remained in good health. Of the circulatory characteristics measured, a casual systolic pressure value greater than or equal to 125 mmHg in medical school was found to be the most predictive of future hypertension. A significant positive association was also found between parental hypertension and the presence of hypertension in the subject. When the two risk factors--higher casual systolic pressure in youth and parental hypertension--occur together, their predictive power is shown by the odds ratio of 12.65 (x2 = 12.87, 1 d.f., p less than .001).