Learning from Two Decades of Blood Pressure Data: Demography-Specific Patterns Across 75 Million Patient Encounters

TL;DR

This study analyzes over 75 million blood pressure records from a diverse patient population over two decades, revealing demographic-specific patterns and correlations in BP that can inform personalized healthcare strategies.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale, demography-specific analysis of BP dynamics across multiple ethnicities and age groups over two decades, uncovering new population-level correlations.

Findings

Males have higher BP levels than females.

SBP increases with age, DBP peaks in the forties.

Black patients have marginally higher BP and greater variability.

Abstract

Hypertension is a global health concern with an increasing prevalence, underscoring the need for effective monitoring and analysis of blood pressure (BP) dynamics. We analyzed a substantial BP dataset comprising 75,636,128 records from 2,054,462 unique patients collected between 2000 and 2022 at Emory Healthcare in Georgia, USA, representing a demographically diverse population. We examined and compared population-wide statistics of bivariate changes in systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) across sex, age, and race/ethnicity. The analysis revealed that males have higher BP levels than females and exhibit a distinct BP profile with age. Notably, average SBP consistently rises with age, whereas average DBP peaks in the forties age group. Among the ethnic groups studied, Blacks have marginally higher BPs and a greater standard deviation. We also discovered a significant correlation between SBP and DBP at the population level, a phenomenon not previously researched. These results emphasize the importance of demography-specific BP analysis for clinical diagnosis and provide valuable insights for developing personalized, demography-specific healthcare interventions.