Washington: People who suffer from a sudden drop in blood pressure (BP) when they stand up from a lying position, may face greater chances of heart failure.
The link between this condition, known as orthostatic hypotension, and heart failure was stronger in people aged 45-55 years compared to those between 56-64 years, researchers said.
High BP, which was present in over half of people who developed heart failure, may be partially responsible for the association, the journal Hypertension reports.
"Orthostatic hypotension appears to be related to the development of heart failure along with other conditions known to cause heart failure," said Christine DeLong Jones, resident in preventive medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who led the study.
"Hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart disease are already known to contribute to a person`s risk of developing heart failure," said Jones, according to a North Carolina statement.
Over an average 17.5 years of follow-up, researchers looked at the link between orthostatic hypotension and developing heart failure.
They defined orthostatic hypotension as a decrease of 20 points or more in the systolic (top number) or a decrease of 10 or more points in the diastolic (bottom number) blood pressure measurements.
The researchers, who based the definition of heart failure on either hospital admission or death certificate diagnoses, found: About 11 percent who developed heart failure had orthostatic hypotension at the start of the study, compared with only four percent of those who did not develop heart failure.
People with orthostatic hypotension had 1.54 times the risk of developing heart failure than those without orthostatic hypotension; however, after excluding those with high blood pressure, the risk fell to 1.34 times.
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