Five-year incidence of hypertension and its determinants: the ATTICA study

The aim of this work was to assess the 5-year incidence of hypertension, in a sample of adults from Greece. 3042 individuals, free of cardiovascular disease, participated in the baseline examination (during 2001-2002). Of the baseline sample, 1012 men and 1035 women were found alive at the time of the follow-up, while 32 (2.1%) men and 22 (1.4%) women died during this period. The 5-year incidence of hypertension was 14.3% in men and 13.4% in women (P = 0.66). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that age (odds ratio (OR) per 1 year = 1.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04-1.14), waist (OR per 10 cm = 1.43, 95% CI 1.22-1.62), fasting glucose (OR per 10 mg/dl = 1.22, 95% CI 1.02-1.45) and diastolic blood pressure (odds ratio per 5 mm Hg = 1.79, 95% CI 1.21-2.65) were the most significant baseline predictors for hypertension, after adjusting for various potential confounders.