Table 1: Group characteristics
Healthy Normotensives Controlled hypertension Hypertension with systolic BP 140–159 mmHg Hypertension with systolic BP ≥ 160 mmHg All withhypertension
Group A Group B Group C Group D Groups B-D combined
Group n 852 206 501 148 855
Mean ± SD or n (%)
Mean ± SD or n (%)
Mean ± SD or n (%)
Mean ± SD or n (%)
Mean ± SD or n (%)
ANOVA / χ2 test p-value
Women 520 (61) 115 (56) 220 (44)*† 70 (47)* 405 (47) <0.001
Men 332 (39) 91 (44) 280 (56)*† 78 (53)* 449 (53)
Russian 358 (42) 144 (70)* 280 (56)*† 96 (65)* 520 (61) <0.001
Norwegian 494 (58) 62 (30)* 221 (44)* 52 (35)* 335 (39)
Age (years) 53±8 59±8* 57±8* 60±8*‡ 58±8 <0.001
BMI (kg/m2) 26.0±4.4 29.3±5.2* 28.9±5.2*† 29.3±5* 29.0±5.2 <0.001
Systolic BP (mmHg) 119±12 123±10* 146±7*† 171±11*†‡ 145±18 <0.001
Diastolic BP (mmHg) 73±9 76±8* 88±9*† 97±10*†‡ 87±11 <0.001
LDL Cholesterol (mmol/l) 3,7±0,9 3,7±1,0 3,7±1,0 3,7±0,9 3.7±9.3 0.400
HbA1C (%) 5,6±0,7 5,6±0,5 5,7±0,8 5,6±0,7 5.6±0.7 0.466
Diabetes diagnosis (n) 9 (1) 35 (17)* 25 (5)*† 9 (6)*† 69 (8) <0.001
Smoking** (n) 170 (20) 23 (11)* 95 (19) 34 (23)† 152 (18) 0.018
Atrial fibrillation history (n) 26 (3) 10 (5) 15 (3) 7 (5) 32 (4) 0.242
Creatinin (mmol/l) 78±15 84±18* 81±30* 82±16 82±25 <0.001
Anti-hypertensive medication (n) 0 206(100) 175 (34) † 75 (51)†‡ 470 (53) <0.001
RAS Drugs (n) 0 159 (77) 140 (28) † 65 (44) †‡ 15 (39) <0.001
Diuretics (n) 0 35 (17) 40 (8) † 16 (11) 54 (8) <0.001
Betablockers (n) 0 68 (33) 60 (12) † 30 (20) † 154 (18) <0.001
Ca-Antagonists (n) 0 33 (16) 40 (8) † 179 (11) 86 (10) 0.005
NT-proBNP (pmol/l) 51 (30-89) 74 (42–126) 66 (32–123) 78 (34–132) 70 (36–127) 0.180
NT-proBNP high (0) 16 (8)* 55 (11)* 16 (11)* 87 (10)* <0.001
BMI: body mass index; BP: blood pressure; LDL: low density lipoproteins; HDL: high density lipoproteins; LV EF: left ventricle ejection fraction; RAS: renin-angiotensin system; Ca: Calcium; HbA1C: glycosylated hemoglobin. NT-proBNP: median with quartiles. Antihypertensive medication was per definition absent in healthy controls and comparisons to this group were not made. **Refers to the active current smoking Bonferroni post-hoc analysis or χ2 test! * p<0.05 for difference towards group A † p<0.05 for difference towards group B ‡ p<0.05 for difference towards group C BMI: body mass index; BP: blood pressure; LDL: low density lipoproteins; HDL: high density lipoproteins; LV EF: left ventricle ejection fraction; RAS: renin-angiotensin system; Ca: Calcium; HbA1C: glycosylated hemoglobin. NT-proBNP: median with quartiles. Antihypertensive medication was per definition absent in healthy controls and comparisons to this group were not made. **Refers to the active current smoking Bonferroni post-hoc analysis or χ2 test! * p<0.05 for difference towards group A † p<0.05 for difference towards group B ‡ p<0.05 for difference towards group C BMI: body mass index; BP: blood pressure; LDL: low density lipoproteins; HDL: high density lipoproteins; LV EF: left ventricle ejection fraction; RAS: renin-angiotensin system; Ca: Calcium; HbA1C: glycosylated hemoglobin. NT-proBNP: median with quartiles. Antihypertensive medication was per definition absent in healthy controls and comparisons to this group were not made. **Refers to the active current smoking Bonferroni post-hoc analysis or χ2 test! * p<0.05 for difference towards group A † p<0.05 for difference towards group B ‡ p<0.05 for difference towards group C BMI: body mass index; BP: blood pressure; LDL: low density lipoproteins; HDL: high density lipoproteins; LV EF: left ventricle ejection fraction; RAS: renin-angiotensin system; Ca: Calcium; HbA1C: glycosylated hemoglobin. NT-proBNP: median with quartiles. Antihypertensive medication was per definition absent in healthy controls and comparisons to this group were not made. **Refers to the active current smoking Bonferroni post-hoc analysis or χ2 test! * p<0.05 for difference towards group A † p<0.05 for difference towards group B ‡ p<0.05 for difference towards group C BMI: body mass index; BP: blood pressure; LDL: low density lipoproteins; HDL: high density lipoproteins; LV EF: left ventricle ejection fraction; RAS: renin-angiotensin system; Ca: Calcium; HbA1C: glycosylated hemoglobin. NT-proBNP: median with quartiles. Antihypertensive medication was per definition absent in healthy controls and comparisons to this group were not made. **Refers to the active current smoking Bonferroni post-hoc analysis or χ2 test! * p<0.05 for difference towards group A † p<0.05 for difference towards group B ‡ p<0.05 for difference towards group C BMI: body mass index; BP: blood pressure; LDL: low density lipoproteins; HDL: high density lipoproteins; LV EF: left ventricle ejection fraction; RAS: renin-angiotensin system; Ca: Calcium; HbA1C: glycosylated hemoglobin. NT-proBNP: median with quartiles. Antihypertensive medication was per definition absent in healthy controls and comparisons to this group were not made. **Refers to the active current smoking Bonferroni post-hoc analysis or χ2 test! * p<0.05 for difference towards group A † p<0.05 for difference towards group B ‡ p<0.05 for difference towards group C BMI: body mass index; BP: blood pressure; LDL: low density lipoproteins; HDL: high density lipoproteins; LV EF: left ventricle ejection fraction; RAS: renin-angiotensin system; Ca: Calcium; HbA1C: glycosylated hemoglobin. NT-proBNP: median with quartiles. Antihypertensive medication was per definition absent in healthy controls and comparisons to this group were not made. **Refers to the active current smoking Bonferroni post-hoc analysis or χ2 test! * p<0.05 for difference towards group A † p<0.05 for difference towards group B ‡ p<0.05 for difference towards group C