Pressure–heart rate product changes from childhood to adulthood in a biracial population — a crossover phenomenon: the Bogalusa Heart Study

Cardiovascular (CV) hemodynamic characteristics are major risk factors for heart disease. Cross-sectional surveys of 5,976 individuals (47% males; 63% Whites), aged 4 to 44 years, and a subset of 1,365 individuals examined both in childhood and in adulthood were examined for blood pressure and heart rate along with cardiovascular risk factors. In early childhood, Whites showed significantly faster heart rate than Blacks; at adolescence, blood pressure levels became greater in Blacks. The systolic blood pressure times heart rate, the double product, in childhood (Whites > Blacks) is reversed in adulthood (Blacks > Whites). A “crossover” at the young adult age occurs. The crossover was observed at around 20 years in females and 25 years in males. Multivariate analyses indicated age, race, and homeostasis model of insulin resistance were independently related to the double product. Further, there was a significant interaction between age and race. These hemodynamic parameters change with increasing age with a crossover pattern of the pressure-rate product between the different races in young adults. Changes in the double product suggest a greater sympathetic nervous system activation occurring in Blacks reaching adulthood. Although not measured, central vs. peripheral sympathetic–parasympathetic balance, which determine hemodynamic characteristics, is influenced by increasing obesity and carbohydrate-insulin metabolic changes in adulthood. Further, hemodynamic parameters create a cardiovascular burden over time producing subtle, subclinical disease of the cardiovascular system. Control of obesity in the population remains critical.