Lack of blood pressure difference by race in professional American football players

•Blood pressure measured for 1484 black and white players from 27 of 32 NFL teams.•BP and prevalence of pre-HTN/HTN did not vary with race of active NFL players.•This finding is contrary to BP differences by race in American young adults.

Previous findings suggest that professional American football players have higher blood pressures (BP) and a higher prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension than the general population. We sought to determine whether race is associated with differences in BP and prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension among a large sample of professional football players. BP was measured at 2009 team mini-camps for 1484 black (n = 1007) and white (n = 477) players from 27 National Football League (NFL) teams. Players were categorized into three position groups based on body mass index (BMI). There was no racial difference in mean systolic or diastolic BP in any of the three position groups. There were no racial differences in prevalence of hypertension (99 [9.8%] black players vs. 39 [8.2%] white players; P = .353) or pre-hypertension (557 [55.3%] black players vs. 264 [55.3%] white players; P = 1.0). Contrary to findings in the general population, BP and prevalence of pre-hypertension/hypertension did not vary with race in a large population of active NFL players.