Table 2

Independent predictors of systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)

	All subjects (n=2733)		Precollege (n=953)		College (n=1562)		Professional (n=218)
	B (95% CI)	P value	B (95% CI)	P value	B (95% CI)	P value	B (95% CI)	P value
Male sex	3.17 (2.19 to 4.16)	<0.001	2.13 (0.44 to 3.82)	0.014	5.21 (3.92 to 6.50)	<0.001	0.05	0.47
Age (years)	0.03	0.19	0.02	0.48	0.02	0.34	−0.04	0.56
Height (cm)	0.25 (0.21 to 0.29)	<0.001	0.32 (0.24 to 0.40)	<0.001	0.21 (0.15 to 0.26)	<0.001	−0.01	0.93
BMI (kg/m²)	0.80 (0.69 to 0.90)	<0.001	1.25 (1.05 to 1.45)	<0.001	0.59 (0.43 to 0.74)	<0.001	0.57 (0.23 to 0.91)	0.001
Afro-American*	−2.18 (−0.83 to −3.53	0.002	−0.03	0.36	−2.46 (−0.71 to −4.22)	0.006	0.04	0.52
Model R²	0.219		0.222		0.209		0.045

*Afro-Americans compared with all other ethnicities. Systolic blood pressure expressed as a continuous variable. B-coefficients correspond to unstandardised coefficients (with 95% CI) obtained by stepwise multivariable regression analysis. For statistically non-significant correlations, r and p values are reported for reference.
BMI, body mass index.