Health Conditions

What is on the horizon?

Research is ongoing to better understand hypertension and how it develops. Researchers performed a study on newborns and found that healthy babies who had a "preferential response" to salt taste and who had at least one grandparent with a history of high blood pressure had blood pressures that averaged 5 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) or more higher than babies who had an aversive or neutral response to salt. Hypertension experts have long known that salt intake is linked to high blood pressure in some adults, especially those who are considered salt-sensitive, meaning that even low levels of salt trigger increases in blood pressure. While it is premature to suggest that neonatal testing can identify individuals at risk for adult hypertension, this research has spawned further investigation.

Researchers have also found that treating high blood pressure with medications not only lowers blood pressure but also makes the heart work better.

Researchers are also investigating a new class of drugs called vasopeptidase inhibitors. An investigational drug in this class called omapatrilat, was shown in one study to reduce blood pressure better than the well-known ACE inhibitors and appears to reverse some of the blood vessel stiffness thought to be an inevitable part of aging and a contributing factor to hypertension. Research continues on this drug class.