In adults, serum uric acid is positively associated with blood pressure levels. It is also a predictor of the development of hypertension in normotensive adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of serum uric acid to systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adolescents. The data, from Cycle III of the National Health Examination Survey, consisted of a national probability sample of 6768 youths, 12-17 years old, in the United States. With age, height, weight, and sexual maturity controlled, serum uric acid significantly predicted blood pressure in adolescents. This relationship of uric acid and blood pressure was evident in male, but not female, adolescents. In association with findings from adult studies, these results indicate that uric acid levels may be useful indicators of adolescents at risk for hypertension.

Forty-five nonmedicated subjects rated on analog scales the anger they experienced at home and at work (Experienced Anger). They also rated the extent to which others were aware of their anger (Expressed Anger) and the extent to which anger had been expressed in their families or origin (Family Expressed Anger). They were then physiologically monitored during a 2-min relaxation period that followed habituation to the laboratory setting. For the group as a whole, Expressed Anger was inversely related to systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure while Family Expressed Anger was inversely related to SBP only. When the sample was divided into normotensive and hypertensive subgroups, the normotensives showed significant associations between Experienced Anger and SBP, Expressed Anger and DBP, and Family Expressed Anger and SBP. The hypertensive subgroup showed no significant associations. Both males and females showed a significant association between Expressed Anger and DBP, but only females showed this relationship with SBP. It is concluded that coping with anger by conscious inhibition of its expression is associated with increases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

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