Smoking was a Possible Negative Predictor of Incident Hypertension After a Five-Year Follow-up Among a General Japanese Population

BACKGROUNDS: The association between cigarette smoking and hypertension is controversial. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between smoking and incident hypertension. METHODS: This is a post-hoc five-year follow-up study in a general Japanese population. Logistic regressions were performed using incident hypertension as an outcome and smoking status as an independent predictor adjusting for sex, age, body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), drinking status, and diabetes in 1,297 subjects without hypertension at baseline. RESULTS: The incidence of hypertension was 16.9% vs. 27.6% (smokers vs. nonsmokers, P = 0.01) in men and 0.0% vs. 16.9% (smokers vs. nonsmokers, P = 0.03) in women. The odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) of incident hypertension was 0.38 (0.19 - 0.76) (P = 0.006) for smokers at baseline, 0.33 (0.16 - 0.68) (P = 0.003) for continuing smokers, and 2.11 (0.33 - 13.45) (P = 0.4) for ex-smokers. Age (OR = 1.52, P < 0.0001), BMI (OR = 1.46, P < 0.0001), and FPG (OR = 1.23, P = 0.007) were other independent predictors of incident hypertension. CONCLUSIONS: Smoking was a possible significant negative predictor of incident hypertension in a general Japanese population.