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Early Socioeconomic Status is Associated With Adult Nighttime Blood Pressure Dipping

From the Department of Psychology (T.S.C., B.L.K., A.D.I.), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Department of Exercise Science (S.L.B.), Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and the Department of Psychology (B.D.), McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Tavis S. Campbell, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr., NW, Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 1N4. E-mail: t.s.campbell{at}ucalgary.ca

Objective: To examine the prognostic significance of early socioeconomic status (SES) on 24-hour blood pressure (BP) during early adulthood. Low SES has been related to poor health outcomes, in particular, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Recent cross-sectional research has also linked low levels of SES with several cardiovascular risk factors including poor nighttime BP dipping.

Methods: A total of 174 undergraduate university students whose childhood SES was assessed by highest level of education completed by their parents underwent 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring.

Results: Initial correlation analyses revealed positive associations between childhood SES and BP dipping, indicating that lower levels of childhood SES were associated with less systolic BP (SBP) (r = .29, p < .01) and diastolic BP (DBP) dipping (r = .38, p < .01). A stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that childhood SES explained 6.9% of the variance in SBP dipping and 11.5% of the variance in DBP dipping above and beyond other lifestyle-related factors including daytime BP, body mass index, alcohol use, smoking, and current SES.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that irrespective of adult achievement, childhood SES may have lasting health implications.

Key Words: ambulatory blood pressure monitoring • blood pressure dipping • socioeconomic status • hypertension • cardiovascular disease • blood pressure

Abbreviations: ABP = ambulatory blood pressure; BMI = body mass index; BP = blood pressure; CVD = cardiovascular disease; DBP = diastolic blood pressure; SBP = systolic blood pressure; SES = socioeconomic status.

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