blood pressure

October 21, 2024

Clue to salt-sensitive blood pressure found

Despite the well-established link between high salt intake and cardiovascular disease and stroke, the mechanism of SSBP is poorly understood, and it remains an untreatable cardiovascular risk with no widely available diagnostic tool.

By Bill Snyder
(iStock image)
May 1, 2024

Study finds 500 new blood pressure genes

An analysis of the genomes of more than 1 million people of European ancestry, conducted by several of the world’s leading genomic centers, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has identified more than 2,000 independent genetic signals for blood pressure.

By Bill Snyder
November 13, 2023

Most can lower blood pressure by reducing salt, even those on BP drugs: study

New research shows nearly everyone can lower their blood pressure, even people currently on blood pressure- reducing drugs, by lowering their sodium intake.

By Bill Snyder
June 26, 2023

Magnesium deficiency and blood pressure

Dietary magnesium depletion in a mouse model activated inflammatory pathways and molecules that promote hypertension, suggesting that increased magnesium consumption may be beneficial for reducing the prevalence of hypertension.

By Leigh MacMillan
March 2, 2023

Sex-specific regulation of kidney signals

Links between estrogen signaling and sodium excretion by the kidney could help explain a reduced risk of hypertension in females versus males.

By Kelsey Pinckard
The study team included, from left, Raymond Harris, MD, J.P. Arroyo, MD, PhD, and Gautam Bhave, MD, PhD.
January 5, 2023

VUMC researchers upend dogma about vasopressin production

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered that vasopressin, which has long been thought to be produced only in the brain, is also produced in the kidney.

By Leigh MacMillan
May 19, 2022

Genetics and blood pressure

Including polygenic risk scores for blood pressure may improve predictive models to identify people at risk for treatment-resistant hypertension.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 24, 2022

High blood pressure genes improve heart surgery survival in children

Vanderbilt researchers have found that children with a genetic makeup that predicts high blood pressure as adults are more likely to survive congenital heart defect repair surgery.
By Leigh MacMillan
October 14, 2021

Tea drinking and high blood pressure

Habitual tea drinking is associated with a slightly higher risk of hypertension in middle-aged and older Chinese adults, which warrants confirmation by long-term intervention studies, researchers say.
By Sarah E. Glass
May 25, 2021

Heat for hypertension in autonomic failure

Heat therapy could offer a novel nonpharmacologic approach for treating the overnight hypertension that affects patients with autonomic failure.
By Leigh MacMillan
July 27, 2020

Soy food, metabolism and the microbiome

Consumption of soy foods may shape the microbiome and protect against hypertension only in individuals with soy-responsive microbiota, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
By Sarah E. Glass
September 5, 2019

How salt increases blood pressure

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that a protein called SGK1 in immune cells is activated by sodium, leading to the development of salt-sensitive hypertension.
By Leigh MacMillan
May 9, 2019

Line placement better with ultrasound

Using ultrasound to place arterial lines reduces the need for surgical access and improves arterial line location, Vanderbilt researchers have found.
By Paul Govern