Blood pressure high for years? Beware of stroke risk

The study stressed the importance early diagnosis and sustained control of high blood pressure for Black and Hispanic patients, who have a higher risk of stroke

2024-07-23

(Press-News.org) High blood pressure is known to increase a person’s chances of having a stroke.

But a study led by Michigan Medicine narrows in on the cumulative effects of years of high systolic blood pressure — the top number on the blood pressure reading and how hard the heart pumps blood to the arteries — finding that a higher average reading during adulthood is linked with a greater risk for the two most common types of stroke.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, analyzed the average systolic blood pressure years ahead of the first stroke for more than 40,000 people who were 18 years or older with no history of stroke.

Researchers covered three types of stroke: ischemic, a clot that cuts blood supply to the brain and the cause of over 85% of all strokes; intracerebral hemorrhage, a bleed within the brain; and subarachnoid hemorrhage, bleeding between the brain and the tissues that cover it.

They found that having a mean systolic blood pressure that is 10-mm Hg higher than average was associated with a 20% higher risk of overall stroke and ischemic stroke, as well as a 31% greater risk of intracerebral hemorrhage.

“Our results suggest that early diagnosis and sustained control of high blood pressure over the lifespan are critical to preventing stroke, ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage, especially in Black and Hispanic patients who are more likely to have uncontrolled hypertension than white patients,” said senior author Deborah A. Levine, M.D., M.P.H., professor of internal medicine and neurology at University of Michigan Medical School.

Black patients had a 20% higher risk of ischemic stroke and a 67% higher risk of intracerebral hemorrhage than white patients.

Hispanic patients had a 281% higher risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage, but not any other stroke type, compared to white patients.

While Black and Hispanic patients had a higher risk of stroke, researchers found little evidence to suggest that race and ethnicity affected the association between cumulative systolic blood pressure and the type of stroke that affected any patient.

“Examining racial inequities advances our understanding of the social, economic and political structures that affect health behaviors and risk for stroke among racial and ethnic minority groups,” said Kimson E. Johnson, Ph.D., M.A., M.S.W., first author and postdoctoral research fellow at University of Michigan.

While systolic blood pressure is a modifiable target for preventing stroke and other cardiovascular diseases, a national study conducted in 2020 found that blood pressure control in the United States worsened from 2013 to 2018, especially for Black and Hispanic adults.

Self-monitoring of blood pressure improves blood pressure diagnosis and control and is accurate and cost effective, but it remains an underused tool, Levine says.

“Two major barriers to self-monitoring of blood pressure are lack of patient education and insurance not covering the home blood pressure monitors, which cost $50 or more,” she said.

“Health care systems and providers must educate and urge their patients to do home blood pressure monitoring, and insurers must pay for home blood pressure monitors to optimize people’s blood pressure and reduce their chances of having a stroke.”

Additional authors: Hanyu Li, M.S., Mellanie V. Springer, M.D., M.S., Andrzej T. Galecki, M.D., Ph.D., Rachael T. Whitney, Ph.D., Rodney A. Hayward, M.D., all of University of Michigan, Min Zhang, Ph.D., of Tsinghua University, Rebecca F. Gottesman, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Stephen Sidney, M.D., M.P.H., of Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Mitchell S. V. Elkind, M.D., M.S., of Columbia University, W. T. Longstreth Jr, M.D., M.P.H., Susan R. Heckbert, M.D., Ph.D., both of University of Washington, Yariv Gerber, Ph.D., of Tel Aviv University and Kevin J. Sullivan, Ph.D., M.P.H., of University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Funding: This study was supported by grant R01 NS102715 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Paper cited: “Cumulative Systolic Blood Pressure and Incident Stroke Type Variation by Race and Ethnicity,” JAMA Network Open. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.8502

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

IMDEA Software creates FIXCHECK, a novel approach that improves automatic software repair by generating test cases revealing defects in 62% of incorrect patches

2024-07-23

IMDEA Software researchers Facundo Molina, Juan Manuel Copia and Alessandra Gorla present FIXCHECK, a novel approach to improve patch fix analysis that combines static analysis, randomized testing and large language models. Their innovations, embodied in the paper: "Improving Patch Correctness Analysis via Random Testing and Large Language Models" were presented at the International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST 2024). Context Generating patches that fix software defects is a crucial task in the maintenance of software systems. Typically, software ...

New car smell reaches toxic levels on hot days

2024-07-23

A study of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by new cars on hot summer days finds concerning levels of formaldehyde and other aldehydes. Consumers are familiar with—and even drawn to—the “new car smell” produced as VOCs from carpets, upholstery, and other interior materials in newly manufactured passenger vehicles. These VOCs can cause a range of health effects, including headaches, inflammation of the eyes, nose and throat, fatigue, irritability, dry cough, lung disease, and disorientation. Jianyin Xiong, Shaodan Huang, and colleagues sought to capture the levels of VOCs in the passenger cabins of new cars on ...

A promising new method uses light to clean up forever chemicals

2024-07-23

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), nicknamed ‘forever chemicals,’ pose a growing environmental and health threat. Since the invention of Teflon in 1938, PFASs and perfluorinated polymers or PFs have been widely used for their exceptional stability and resistance to water and heat. These properties made them ideal for countless applications, from cookware and clothing to firefighting foam. However, this very stability has become a major problem. PFASs do not easily break down in the environment, leading ...

DIF-1(+3): Combating drug-resistant malaria parasites

2024-07-23

Malaria remains a serious health issue globally, especially in Africa. The disease is caused by protozoan parasites in the Plasmodium genus. In 2021, there were 247 million cases of malaria and 619,000 deaths reported worldwide. At present, the first line of treatment against malaria is artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) and the administration of artemisinin derivatives in combination with other drugs. After the introduction of ACTs in Africa, which accounts for more than 90% of the world’s malaria cases, the number of deaths due to malaria greatly declined in the mid-2000s. However, Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent malaria parasite, is resistant to ACT and has been spreading ...

Can a World Cup run drive interest in a nation? New study finds evidence of the “flutie effect” off the field

2024-07-23

Nearly four decades ago, Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie launched a game-winning, mid-field touchdown pass to upset the University of Miami on the game’s final play—prompting a subsequent surge in applications to the school in what has been dubbed the “Flutie Effect.” A team of NYU researchers has now found evidence of this effect beyond the gridiron—and athletic competition. During and after Morocco’s surprising run to the World Cup semi-finals in the fall 2022, online searches on non-sports topics related to Morocco increased ...

Data from largest clinical trial of pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease now widely available

2024-07-23

Data from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s (A4) study, the first and largest clinical trial of pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, is now widely available to researchers studying the condition. The comprehensive dataset has already yielded key insights about Alzheimer’s disease, which affects nearly seven million people in the United States, and sharing the data opens avenues for further progress. A4 researchers screened more than 7,500 people and enrolled 1,169 people with pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. This stage ...

Fruit fly post-mating behavior controlled by male-derived peptide via command neurons – study

2024-07-23

Scientists have succeeded in pinpointing the neurons within a female fruit fly’s brain that respond to signals from the male during mating. Male fruit flies transfer a substance called a sex-peptide during mating in the seminal fluid together with sperm. This sex pheromone influences the female fly’s behaviour so she will start to lay eggs and be less inclined to mate further. This is a common phenomenon in insects but until now, it was not known where in the nervous system the neurons are located that direct ...

NIH findings shed light on risks and benefits of integrating AI into medical decision-making

2024-07-23

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that an artificial intelligence (AI) model solved medical quiz questions—designed to test health professionals’ ability to diagnose patients based on clinical images and a brief text summary—with high accuracy. However, physician-graders found the AI model made mistakes when describing images and explaining how its decision-making led to the correct answer. The findings, which shed light on AI’s potential in the clinical setting, were published in npj ...

Expiring medications could pose challenge on long space missions

2024-07-23

DURHAM, N.C. -- Medications used by astronauts on the International Space Station might not be good enough for a three-year journey to Mars. A new study led by Duke Health shows that over half of the medicines stocked in space -- staples such as pain relievers, antibiotics, allergy medicines, and sleep aids -- would expire before astronauts could return to Earth. Astronauts could end up relying on ineffective or even harmful drugs, according to the study appearing July 23 in npj Microgravity, a Nature journal. “It doesn’t necessarily mean ...

Study of urban moss raises concerns about lead levels in older Portland neighborhoods

2024-07-23

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Lead levels in moss are as much as 600 times higher in older Portland, Oregon, neighborhoods where lead-sheathed telecommunications cables were once used compared to lead levels in nearby rural areas, a new study of urban moss has found. The findings raise concerns about lead exposure in pre-1960 neighborhoods where the cables were common and in some cases are still in place even though they are no longer in use, said Alyssa Shiel, an environmental geochemist at Oregon State University, and the study’s ...

Blood pressure high for years? Beware of stroke risk

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: