Associations of BP categories with mortality from CVDs and its major subtypes by age groups.

Abbreviations: BP, blood pressure; CVDs, cardiovascular diseases; HR, hazard ratios; CI, confidence interval. Reference was normal BP. Multi-adjusted HR were adjusted for age, education level, marital status, smoking status, alcohol consumption, intake frequencies of vegetables, fruits, and red meat, physical activity, body mass index, survey season, heart rate, diabetes at baseline, family history of heart attack, stroke (only adjusted for in corresponding analysis of cause-specific mortality) and were stratified according to sex and survey sites. Statistically significant heterogeneity was observed in the associations between blood pressure categories and CVD mortality across age groups (all P values for interaction <0.005, except for ischemic stroke P = 0.20). Data markers represent the point estimate of hazard ratio. Error bars represent 95% confidence interval. Black arrows represent the confidence intervals exceed the X-axis value.