In a prospective study of 36 728 women and 35 688 men during 18 years of follow-up, compared to systolic pressure o130 mm Hg, levels of 130 -149, 150 -169 and X170 mm Hg in women were associated with relative risks of renal cell cancer of 1.7, 2.0 and 2.0, respectively (P for linear trend, 0.11). In men, there was no association with blood pressure. The association of blood pressure with risk of renal cell cancer has been investigated in a number of cohort (Fraser et al, 1990;Grove et al, 1991;Coughlin et al, 1997;Heath et al, 1997;Chow et al, 2000;Choi et al, 2005;Flaherty et al, 2005;Fryzek et al, 2005;Lindgren et al, 2005;Schouten et al, 2005) and case -control (McLaughlin et al, 1995;Yuan et al, 1998;Shapiro et al, 1999) studies, using as principal exposure variable either recorded blood pressure or reported hypertension. In men, recorded blood pressure has shown a convincing exposure -response gradient related to renal cell cancer risk (Coughlin et al, 1997;Chow et al, 2000). In women, however, only reported history of hypertension has been studied as the main exposure variable. In one cohort (Flaherty et al, 2005) and two case -control studies (Yuan et al, 1998;Shapiro et al, 1999), history of hypertension was associated with increased risk. Documenting the presence or the lack of an exposure -response gradient in women is important, and might promote a better probing of the underlying mechanism of the association.In this prospective study of 36 728 women and 35 688 men, we report on the association of blood pressure measured at baseline with renal cell cancer risk during 18 years of follow-up, together with that related to ever use of blood pressure medication.
MATERIALS AND METHODSIn 1984, 85 100 individuals were invited to the Nord Trøndelag Health Study (the HUNT Study) in Norway, and 75 058 (88.2 percent) accepted the invitation, filled in a self-administered questionnaire, and attended a clinical examination (Holmen et al, 1991;Ellekjaer et al, 2000). Briefly, information included smoking status and standardised measurements of blood pressure, body height and weight. The study was approved by the Regional Committee for Ethics in medical research, and by the Norwegian Data Inspectorate.This study was restricted to participants without prevalent cancer who had complete information on blood pressure and body mass index. Blood pressure was measured using calibrated mercury manometers with standard cuff size (Holmen et al, 1991). We divided systolic pressure (in mm Hg) into the following categories: o130 (reference), 130 -149, 150 -169 and X170, and diastolic pressure (in mm Hg) into the following: o85 (reference), 85 -94, 95 -104 and X105. Information on use of antihypertensive medication was derived from the question 'do you use or have you ever used blood pressure medication?' Body mass index was calculated as weight (in kg) divided by the squared value of height (in metres), and grouped into four categories: o18.5, 18.5 -24.9, 25 -29.9 and X30. Information on smoking was categorised as never, former o...