High Blood Pressure News and Research

Latest High Blood Pressure News and Research

Study indicates how drug efficacy can be increased by manipulating the signalling mechanism

Researchers believe they have found a way to change the action of 60 percent of currently available medications, in some cases making them many times more effective, according to an article published in the April 21 edition of the journal Science. The discovery has the potential to improve treatments for diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression and arthritis. The study describes a new way to manipulate perhaps the most important signaling mechanism in human cells: G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).

28 Apr 2006

Preconception health care should be part of routine medical visits

Every visit to the doctor for women of childbearing age should be considered an opportunity to discuss reproductive health- especially since more than half of all pregnancies are unintended, according to a report published today in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Recommendations and Reports.

26 Apr 2006

Preconception health care should be part of routine medical visits

26 Apr 2006

Blood pressure readings lower if patients are allowed to relax and be comfortable

According to a new study from a team of nurses headed by Melly Turner, R.N., systolic blood pressure can be an average of 14 points higher when taken immediately after arriving in the exam room and sitting on an examination table rather than sitting in a chair with your back supported and feet flat on the floor. In fact, all study participants had lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements when seated in a chair versus the exam table.

26 Apr 2006

Research into toxins points to development of better medicines

Researchers have combined magnetic resonance spectroscopy with special protein synthesis procedures to uncover how potassium channels and toxins combine and change in structure. This work could make it possible to develop medications for high blood pressure and many other diseases connected to potassium channel failure .

23 Apr 2006

Genetic data from an island population proves to be a useful tool in understanding disease

With fewer than 4,000 residents, the genetically isolated Micronesian island of Kosrae, in the West Pacific, provides an ideal population in which to research heritability of disease.

20 Apr 2006

New orthostatic hypotension treatment reduces symptoms without causing high blood pressure

A drug traditionally used to treat myasthenia gravis shows potential benefit for reducing symptoms of orthostatic hypotension without raising blood pressure when people lie down, according to results of a double-blind, controlled clinical trial.

19 Apr 2006

Only 43 percent of older people with diabetes receive medicines that could protect their heart and kidneys

...despite the fact that virtually all of them could benefit from those drugs, a new University of Michigan study finds. And even among those with the most to gain from the medicines, the rate of use barely reaches 53 percent.

18 Apr 2006

Almost half of elderly Beijing residents have metabolic syndrome

As more people in China adopt Western diets and lifestyles, many are developing a cluster of cardiovascular disease risk factors, according to a new study in the April 18, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

17 Apr 2006

Diabetes: Translating the chronic care model into the community

Educating people with diabetes in a primary-care setting with sustained, comprehensive intervention resulted in significant improvement in disease management and overall health, according to a study published in the current issue of Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

16 Apr 2006

Angiotension-converting enzyme inhibitors may reduce cardiovascular risk

Angiotension-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, medications commonly used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure), may reduce cardiovascular risk and the risk of death in patients with coronary artery disease, according to a new analysis of previously conducted clinical trials reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

13 Apr 2006

Maintaining high blood pressure treatment may reduce the risk of dementia in old age

Lead author of the study Rita Peila, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), said "For every year of hypertension treatment, there is increased protection against dementia."

13 Apr 2006

A drink or two a day may be associated with better cognitive function in women

"Women who had up to two drinks a day scored about 20 percent higher on the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) than women who didn't drink at all or who consumed less than one drink a week," said Clinton Wright, M.D., M.S., lead author of the study.

13 Apr 2006

Study assesses formularies across Medicare drug plans

Medicare's new private stand-alone drug plans vary significantly - in terms of covered drugs, out-of-pocket costs for specific medications, and restrictions placed on the use of certain drugs - according to a new analysis released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

11 Apr 2006

Guidelines for medication withdrawal

Although thousands of scientific papers evaluate and compare new and established drugs each year, providing evidence to help doctors prescribe safe and effective doses, almost no studies focus on when or how to stop these medications, even late in life.

11 Apr 2006

Scientists use corrective gene to block a protein in the kidneys that triggers high blood pressure

Nearly one-third of American adults have high blood pressure, a major cause of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. But a new technique tested at the University of Florida could prove to be a long-term way to treat the disorder in humans, researchers say.

11 Apr 2006

Healthy lifestyle changes reduce high blood pressure

Men and women with elevated blood pressure who make healthy lifestyle changes and sustain them for up to a year and a half can substantially reduce their rates of high blood pressure and potentially decrease their heart disease risk.

6 Apr 2006

Sticking to lifestyle changes will reduce high blood pressure risk

It has been suggested for sometime by a range of research studies that lifestyle changes, such as exercising to lose weight and following a healthy diet, are possibly as important as drugs for treating chronic diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension.

5 Apr 2006

Celebrex appears to prevent colon cancer

Researchers say they have found that high doses of the arthritis drug Celebrex reduced the number of pre-cancerous growths in the colon.

4 Apr 2006

Vegetarian diets most effective for weight loss

According to a new review, a vegetarian diet is very effective for weight loss and vegetarians tend to be slimmer than meat-eaters, have lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other life-threatening conditions linked to obesity.

4 Apr 2006