High Blood Pressure News and Research

Latest High Blood Pressure News and Research

FDA proposes major revisions to the physician labeling for prescription drugs

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today proposed major revisions to the physician labeling for prescription drugs (including biological products) to provide better information about the effects of medicines used during pregnancy and breast-feeding.

28 May 2008

Simple blood test could indicate higher risk for coronary events in women after post-menopausal hormone therapies

A research study has found that a simple blood test may indicate whether post-menopausal hormone therapies present an elevated risk of a heart attack.

22 May 2008

Thiazide-type diuretic shown to be best first-choice drug for hypertensive patients

A study based at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston provides added justification that a thiazide-type diuretic is the best first-choice drug for hypertensive patients. The findings, published in the American Heart Association's Circulation, Volume 117, Issue 20, evaluate the results of a previous trial coordinated by researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health, along with other recent studies.

19 May 2008

Erection problems may signal serious heart disease

Erectile dysfunction is always a matter of the heart, but new research shows that more than romance is at stake. Two new studies of men with type 2 diabetes found that erectile dysfunction (ED) was a powerful early warning sign for serious heart disease, including heart attack and death.

19 May 2008

Blood pressure confusion for diabetics

For people with diabetes, high blood pressure poses a special threat, multiplying their risk of heart attacks, strokes and kidney problems.

19 May 2008

Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea with CPAP may lower blood pressure

Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) may also lower blood pressure among hypertensive adults, according to researchers in Spain, who will present his findings at the American Thoracic Society's 2008 International Conference in Toronto on Sunday, May 18.

19 May 2008

51% of insured U.S. residents regularly take prescription drugs for chronic illnesses

Fifty-one percent of insured U.S. residents last year took one or more prescription drugs for chronic diseases, compared with 50% in the previous four years and 47% in 2001, according to a report released last Tuesday by Medco Health Solutions, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports.

19 May 2008

Obesity and unhealthy lifestyles linked to more complex urinary problems

People who are obese and lead unhealthy lifestyles are more likely to suffer from a larger number of urinary problems, according to a population-based study of more than 5,000 men and women published in the May issue of the UK-based urology journal BJU International.

15 May 2008

Drug therapy for phenylketonuria reverses heart damage

A pricy drug used to treat a rare but well-known genetic disorder may hold wider promise as a treatment for millions of Americans with potentially lethal enlarged hearts, due mainly to high blood pressure, a study from Johns Hopkins shows.

13 May 2008

New York Times examines health care access of undocumented immigrants

The New York Times on Saturday examined access to health care for undocumented immigrant farm workers in the U.S., who often do not have health coverage.

13 May 2008

New clues into how preeclampsia may surface in some pregnancies

The COMT gene - known already for its role in schizophrenia - has been found to play a role in preeclampsia, according to a report in the advance on-line issue of Nature.

11 May 2008

Radioactive carbon-14 determines the number of fat cells remains constant in all body types

The radioactive carbon-14 produced by above-ground nuclear testing in the 1950s and '60s has helped researchers determine that the number of fat cells in a human's body, whether lean or obese, is established during the teenage years. Changes in fat mass in adulthood can be attributed mainly to changes in fat cell volume, not an increase in the actual number of fat cells.

9 May 2008

Mothers' high normal blood sugar levels place infants at risk for birth problems

Pregnant women with blood sugar levels in the higher range of normal - but not high enough to be considered diabetes - are more likely than women with lower blood sugar levels to give birth to babies at risk for many of the same problems seen in babies born to women with diabetes during pregnancy, according to a study funded in large part by the National Institutes of Health.

8 May 2008

Vitamin D linked to reduced mortality rate in chronic kidney disease

For patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease (CKD), treatment with activated vitamin D may reduce the risk of death by approximately one-fourth, suggests a study in the August Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

7 May 2008

Obesity can increase dementia risk by up to 80 per cent - people who are underweight also face an elevated risk

Being obese can increase the risk of Alzheimer's Disease by as much as 80 per cent, according to a study in the May issue of the UK-based journal Obesity Reviews.

7 May 2008

Kidney disease substantially worsens in a fourth of African Americans despite therapy for hypertension

The best available treatment for chronic kidney disease from high blood pressure did not keep the disease from substantially worsening in about a fourth of African-Americans studied, according to long-term results of a National Institutes of Health study published April 28, 2008, in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

5 May 2008

Harmful blood glucose levels linked to genetic mutation

A genetic mutation that can raise the amount of glucose in a person's blood to harmful levels is identified today in a study in the journal Science.

1 May 2008

Breakthrough compound could lead to new class of antihypertensive drugs

University of Florida researchers have identified a drug compound that dramatically lowers blood pressure, improves heart function and - in a remarkable finding - prevents damage to the heart and kidneys in rats with persistent hypertension

1 May 2008

Obesity and heart failure risk

Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere report what is believed to be the first wide-scale evidence linking severe overweight to prolonged inflammation of heart tissue and the subsequent damage leading to failure of the body's blood-pumping organ.

1 May 2008

High blood pressure still sneaking past doctors, Stanford study shows

Despite the well-known dangers of high blood pressure, major shortfalls still exist in the screening, treatment and control of the disease even when patients are getting a doctor's care, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

1 May 2008