A Longitudinal Study of Blood Pressure

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Abstract
Platt''s single gene hypothesis on inheritance of primary hypertension predicts bimodal distributions of blood pressure among offsprings of hypertensive parents. Conversely Pickering contends that the inheritance of blood pressure[long dash]like that of height and intelligence-is governed by multiple genes, predicting a unimodal distribution of this attribute among such children. This controversial argument was examined in a longitudinal study. 3,994 longshoremen were examined in 1951 and followed during the ensuing 10 years. Data on blood pressure, weight, cigarette smoking and parental longevity were collected and analyzed. The association between the blood pressure distribution on the one hand and cigarette smoking and longevity of parents on the other was examined. The serial changes in blood pressure in each individual over a 10 year period were also studied. The results indicated an inverse relationship between smokingand blood pressure; and a unimodal distribution of the serial changes of blood pressure in a 10 year period. Furthermore, various statistical techniques such as the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test and the dissection of distribution curves were employed to detect possible differences in location and bimodality in the frequency distributions of systolic blood pressure of 3,311 longshoremen classified according to the longevity of their parents. The analysis revealed no evidence of differences or bimodality in the 2 parental longevity groups.