Higher blood pressure in early adulthood predicts risk of heart disease

Elevated blood pressure as young as age 18 is a warning sign of heart disease developing later in life and the time to begin prevention, according to a large American national study. That's decades earlier than clinicians and patients generally start thinking about heart disease risk. The 25-year study is the first to identify different long-term patterns of blood pressure levels from ages 18 to 55 and resulting cardiovascular risk.