Young adults between the ages of 23 and 35 who have served time behind bars are more likely to develop high blood pressure and enlarged hearts than their peers who’ve never faced prison time.  According to a study just published in the ‘Archives of Internal Medicine,’ some experts are now calling on fellow physicians to treat patients with the understanding that incarceration increases the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients who might otherwise have no such risk factors.

Dr. Emily A. Wang, of San Francisco General Hospital, led the  study of 4,350 young adults, some of whom served jail time shortly before or after joining the study.  According to Wang, the United States prison population tripled from 1987 to 2007, creating the “especially important” need to understand how incarceration affects the health of an individual, in the present and in the future.

Wang’s study involved 288 individuals who were incarcerated either one year before or two years after joining the study, called Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA).  Wang found that in the three-to-five year period after release, 12% of these young adults developed high blood pressure.  Study participants who’d never served time developed high blood pressure at a rate of only 7%.

One complication of high blood pressure in enlargement of the heart, a condition detected in 2% of the previously incarcerated study participants versus only 0.6% of those who had not been incarcerated.

Adding further complication to these individuals’ lives is the likelihood that previously incarcerated young adults will not have access to regular health care, which is vital for preventing enlargement of the heart when high blood pressure is present.

According to Wang, more than 7 million Americans are jailed or imprisoned each year, a number she considers high enough that incarceration itself should be considered an independent risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease.