Hi effortless,
That lifeclinic site you link to is somewhat behind the times as it still refers to JNC VI, but even so, the link you provide doesn't say what you think it does. Sure, when you inhale tobacco smoke your heart rate increases, your arteries stiffen and your blood pressure goes up, but when you put the ciggie out your blood pressure will return to where it was before. No doubt damage was caused by the
temporary increase in blood pressure and the temporary effects are cumulative so heavy smokers have more damage. But, if you randomly take 1000 young people like vfr-on-top off the street, tell them to wait in a room and then take their BP's with a cuff around the arm, you will not find the group of smokers has a higher blood pressure than the non smokers. Maybe that means the way BP is currently measured doesn't give the whole picture, but that's another thread
So, vfr-on-top reports he is a 28 year old smoker with BP of 135/90. What I am saying is that if he stops smoking and does nothing else (and doesn't put on weight), then goes down to his GP and has his BP measured, his BP will still be 135/90. He will have more money, can be expected to live longer, will not be coughing up gunks of green muck in the morning, and will not smell as bad - but his BP as measured by the GP will essentially be the same. Smoking is most certainly an additional risk factor for hypertensives, but I don't believe there is any proof that it causes hypertension in 28 year olds - or that stopping smoking is an effective way to treat hypertension as currently defined/measured.
Morning re-entry. So you would start a 28 year old with a BP of 135/90 on a beta blocker? Don't think so, beta blockers have side effects and there are far better ways to approach this case (and also if medication was needed you would first consider a thiazide diuretic). Which google search threw that up? Also my life is fine, thank you