High–normal blood pressure is associated with new-onset electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy

Whether high–normal blood pressure (bp) is a predictor of new-onset electrocardiographic (ecg)-left ventricular hypertrophy (lvh) is not known. a total of 4112 subjects who underwent physical examinations were enrolled in this study. bp was measured on entry. standard 12-lead ecg was recorded at initial evaluation and 3 years later. bp categories were defined on the basis of the 2013 european society of hypertension/european society of cardiology guidelines. of the 4112 subjects, 133 developed ecg-lvh 3 years later. crude cumulative prevalence rates of new-onset ecg-lvh were 2.0% for the optimal bp group, 3.2% for the normal bp group, 5.1% for the high–normal bp group and 5.0% for the hypertension group. after adjustment for age, gender, body mass index, smoking, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, log-transformed high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, log-transformed triglycerides, estimated glomerular filtration rate, haemoglobin a1c, haemoglobin, uric acid and antihypertensive medication use, compared with the optimal bp group, the odds ratios of new-onset ecg-lvh for the normal bp, high–normal bp and hypertension groups were 1.52 (95% confidence interval (ci): 0.93–2.49, p=0.094), 2.38 (95% ci: 1.40–4.03, p=0.001) and 2.44 (95% ci: 1.43–4.18, p=0.001), respectively. even high–normal bp was significantly associated with the presence of new-onset ecg-lvh.