Cardiovascular reactivity to work stress predicts subsequent onset of hypertension: The Air Traffic Controller Health Change Study

OBJECTIVE: The hypothesis that increased blood pressure reactivity to stress is an early risk marker of hypertension was tested in a 1994 follow-up of the 1974 to 1978 Air Traffic Controller Health Change Study sample. METHODS: Assessments in 1974 to 1978 included physical examinations and recordings (every 20 minutes for 5 hours) of both workload (planes within controller airspace) and blood pressure reactivity. Individual differences in reactivity were used to predict 1994 self-report of ever having been told by a physician to take antihypertensive medication, assessed in a telephone survey of 218 respondents who were normotensive or stage 1 hypertensive in 1974 to 1978. RESULTS: Each SD increase in baseline systolic reactivity was associated with a 1.7 (p