Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have determined that something in female sex chromosomes appears to trigger a rise in blood pressure after the onset of menopause. This finding challenges the current belief that sex hormones are largely responsible for regulating blood pressure. Their work, reported online Monday in Hypertension, is the first of its kind and involves male mice engineered to have female (XX) sex chromosomes, and female mice with male (XY) chromosomes. The findings suggest that sex chromosomes regulate blood pressure in and of themselves…

ATLANTA (MedPage Today) — Individualized care is again the message in the wake of lipid and hypertension results from the ACCORD trial presented here at the American College of Cardiology meeting, leading cardiologists suggest in this exclusive InFocus™ report.

Forest Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: FRX) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not approve the additional indication for Bystolic(R) (nebivolol) tablets as a treatment for stable chronic heart failure (CHF) as requested in the company’s Supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA). Bystolic is currently approved in the US for the treatment of hypertension…

Millions of Americans are living with hypertension — a ticking time bomb. From the age of 50 and onward, Americans have a 90 percent chance of developing hypertension. That is a startling risk for a condition that strongly predisposes to heart disease and stroke. What is most worrisome is that the prevalence of hypertension remains high, particularly among African-Americans, despite efforts to educate Americans about the importance of healthy eating, physical activity and smoke-free environments…

It’s time to shift the burden of hypertension prevention and treatment efforts from individuals to society, according to an Institute of Medicine report.

High blood pressure is the second leading cause of death in the United States, triggering more than one-third of heart attacks and almost half of heart failures each year even though it is relatively easy to prevent and inexpensive to treat. In a new report, A Population-Based Policy and Systems Change Approach to Prevent and Control Hypertension, the Institute of Medicine explores the question of how we can better reduce and control the condition…

There is evidence to suggest that flexible working might be beneficial for employees’ health if they are allowed to have input into their own working patterns, a review by Cochrane Researchers suggests. The study may throw some light on potential health benefits associated with current trends towards more flexible working in the UK and Europe. In Scandinavian countries, flexible working arrangements for employees with families are commonplace…

Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the hypertension treatment Benicar® (olmesartan medoxomil) for use in children and adolescents 6 to 16 years of age.(1) Benicar was originally approved in 2002 for the treatment of hypertension in adults. Approximately 5 percent or 3.6 million American children suffer from high blood pressure, with the majority unaware they have the condition.(2)(3) Studies have also found that the average blood pressure of American children is on the rise, in parallel with the increase of children’s weight…

Diabetic patients aren’t as concerned about their hypertension as their physicians are, researchers found.

A just published research experiment on inactive men with high blood pressure shows that just 3 months of soccer practise twice a week causes a significant fall in blood pressure, resting pulse rate, and percentage of body fat, and is more effective than the doctor’s usual advice on healthy diet and exercise. Other parallel experiments on both women and men further demonstrates that a regular game of soccer affects numerous cardiovascular risk factors such as maximal oxygen uptake, heart function, elasticity of the vascular system, blood pressure, cholesterol and fat mass far more than e.g…