Hypertension

Low levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 are associated with increased rates of cardiovascular events among women with rheumatoid arthritis, researchers report.

Patients with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis who take ibuprofen are more likely to experience an increase in systolic blood pressure than those taking celecoxib, results of the PRECISION-ABPM study suggest.

Reducing target blood pressure does not decrease the incidence of recurrent arrhythmia among patients undergoing catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation, results of a randomized trial suggest.

A pilot randomized crossover trial suggests that giving patients a single pill composed of four antihypertensives at a quarter of their usual dose is a promising means of controlling blood pressure.

The number of people with elevated systolic blood pressure and the number of associated deaths have “increased substantially” in the past 25 years, results from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2015 study suggest.

Researchers report that ambulatory blood pressure is higher than clinic BP in healthy employed people, in contrast to “a widely held belief.”

The number of people living with high blood pressure has almost doubled worldwide over the past 4 decades, with the biggest rise in low- and middle-income countries, according to an analysis of data from 19.1 million people.

Analysis of the CLARIFY registry shows a J-shaped curve between blood pressure and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with established coronary heart disease.

Research shows that low diastolic blood pressure is a marker of subclinical cardiac damage and increased coronary heart disease risk, particularly in patients with relatively high systolic blood pressure.

Long-term variability in blood pressure, measured in the clinic, is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease events and mortality, regardless of mean blood pressure, results of a systematic review and meta-analysis show.

Nearly one-third of the world’s adult population had hypertension in 2010, with prevalence higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries for the first time in history, researchers report.

Analysis of the SEAS study participants pinpoints the blood pressure range that physicians should target for best outcomes in patients with asymptomatic aortic stenosis.

Hypertension accounts for around half of all strokes in all regions of the world, show the results of the second phase of INTERSTROKE.

Higher systolic blood pressure is associated with increased carotid intima-media thickness even within the normotensive range, research shows.

Lisinopril therapy significantly reduces incident conduction system disease, indicates a post-hoc analysis of ALLHAT data.

Patients with a very high blood pressure reading in the absence of other symptoms are highly unlikely to have a major adverse cardiovascular event within the next 6 months, researchers report.

Study findings strengthen the suggestion that visit-to-visit variability in blood pressure is at least partly accounted for by patients’ adherence or otherwise to their antihypertensive medication.

A pooled analysis in The Lancet showing a U-shaped association between urinary sodium excretion and cardiovascular disease has drawn criticism.

Analysis of SPRINT participants older than 75 years shows that they too benefitted from an intensive blood pressure target of 120 mmHg.

Older patients initiating or intensifying antihypertensive medication have a short-term increased risk of sustaining a serious fall injury, US study findings indicate.