A new study published in the journal Circulation suggests that US adults, particularly women, experienced an increase in blood pressure (BP) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study included data on 464,585 employees and their spouses/partners from companies participating in employer-sponsored wellness programs by Quest Diagnostics every year. The employees and their partners from all the states and the District of Columbia underwent BP measurement for three years in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The readings were found to be significantly higher during the pandemic from April through December, 2020, compared with the values in 2019. The rise ranged from 1.1 to 2.5 mmHg for systolic BP and 0.14 to 0.53 mmHg for diastolic BP.

The increases were found to be larger among women, compared to men… (CNN, December 6, 2021)