The study participants were included according to a population based recruitment where a random sample of 1000 men (55-65 years old) living in Oulu, Finland was drawn from the Finnish Population Register. They were screened by telephone interviews for eligibility for the study. Eligible attendees measured their blood pressure home for a week according to the recommendations of the European Society of Hypertension and were classified either to hypertensive (systolic blood pressure ≥135 and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥85 mmHg) or normotensive (blood pressure <135/85mmHg). For the study we aimed at a 2:1 ratio of hypertensive and normotensive. The final study group consisted of 56 hypertensive and 35 normotensive middle-aged men.