Blood vessel changes predict high blood pressure

	Tweet

Structural changes in small blood vessels may precede the development of severe High Blood Pressure, findings from the Blue Mountains Eye Study in Australia indicate.

Previous reports have suggested that structural changes in blood vessels in the retina of the eye precede the development of severe High Blood Pressure, senior author Dr. Paul Mitchell from the University of Sidney and colleagues note. However, whether such changes alone predict High Blood Pressure was unclear.

To investigate, the researchers monitored blood pressures in 3,654 older subjects living in two postal areas west of Sydney. Photographs of the retina were also taken at the beginning of the study and analyzed for blood vessel narrowing. Of the 2,335 subjects who returned for examination 5 years later, the researchers focused on 1,319 who had normal or just slightly elevated blood pressure when they entered the study.

The researchers’ findings are published in the current rapid access issue of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Nearly 30 percent of subjects developed severe High Blood Pressure. After factoring in various risk factors, the researchers found that the subjects with the narrowest retinal vessels were 2.6-times more likely to develop severe High Blood Pressure than those with the widest vessels. Even after taking into account considering the initial blood pressure status, this association remained statistically significant.

These retinal signs appear to predict development of severe High Blood Pressure, independent of other risk factors such as age, gender, weight, smoking, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure status at the start of the study, Mitchell commented in a statement.

This suggests that among individuals who have similar blood pressure levels, those who also have narrowed blood vessels in the retina have a greater risk of developing High Blood Pressure.

SOURCE: Hypertension, August 10, 2004.

RELATED STORIES:
Global ignorance of tobacco’s harm to cardiovascular health costing lives   Risks of Using Aspirin to Prevent Heart Attack Or Stroke Differ by Gender and Age   Diet and Exercise Intervention for Patients at Risk for Heart Disease Improves Quality of Life   Heart attack woman ‘waited 2 hours’   FDA Allows Qualified Health Claim to Decrease Risk of Coronary Heart Disease   Multislice CT Speeds the Diagnosis of Chest Pain in the Emergency Room   Cardiovascular screening advised for young athletes   Chronic stress tied to heart, stroke risks in men   Antibiotics don’t prevent repeat heart attacks   Tamoxifen lowers risk of cardiovascular disease   Alcohol’s impact on heart and stroke risk may differ for men, women   Blood pressure after exercise may predict heart risk

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]