Relative Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Blood Pressure: Lessons from a Large Scale Survey of Young Adults

The studies that explored the possible role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the prevalence of hypertension varied greatly in their results and were derived from small-scale populations. The aim of the current study was to assess the influence of SES on blood pressure in a large population of young adults. We studied 11,053 male Israel Defence Force officers who underwent periodic medical evaluation between 1991 and 1999. We calculated mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) by level of education and rank while adjusting for age, type of work, demographic variables and body mass index (BMI). The adjusted mean SBP was highest among officers of low rank (118.76 mmHg as compared to 114.84 mmHg among officers of high rank, p<0.001) with similar statistically significant trend for DBP. No differences in the means of SBP and DBP were observed between the categories of the level of education, but mean SBP was higher among office workers (117.17, as compared to 116.26 among physical workers, p=0.038). The partial Eta squared for rank, age and BMI were found to be 0.003, 0,008 and 0,066, respectively, for SBP and 0.002, 0.026 and 0.054, respectively, for DBP. In summary, low SES as reflected by low rank is associated with elevated blood pressure. Level of education does not correlate with blood pressure. An office work type is associated with higher blood pressure as well. However, these SES indicators are weak determinant of blood pressure compared to those of age and weight.