7 Key Hypertension Breakthroughs Made in 2020
Despite the overwhelming coverage of the
Novel Coronavirus pandemic and its many aspects by the majority of
medical news outlets, we’re here to tell you that Covid-19 was not the
only topic investigated by medical researchers this year. However, these
new discoveries did often fly under the radar, which is a real shame.
In this article, we’ve condensed 7 key medical studies investigating one
of the most widespread health issues of contemporary life, the
so-called “silent killer” - hypertension. Here is what researchers
discovered about high blood pressure in 2020.
1. Hypertension in seniors
Is hypertension always bad in older adults? The majority of research
says ‘yes’, as the condition is known to increase a person’s risk of
stroke and heart attack, but one 10-year study published in the journal
Age and Ageing this year looked at the connection between high blood
pressure and mortality rates in 415,980 seniors and discovered that
hypertension in older people may not be the clear-cut predictor of bad
health we consider it to be now.
As the authors pointed out in the study, “Hypertension was not
associated with increased mortality at ages above 85 or at ages 75–84
with moderate-severe frailty, perhaps due to complexities of coexisting
morbidities”. Essentially, the researchers found that seniors with
hypertension and moderate to severe frailty actually had a 16% reduced
mortality risk.
Needless to say, that doesn’t mean that you should stop taking your
blood pressure medication if you’re 75 or older, but it sure does
provide much-needed emotional relief to those who suffer from the
condition and their relatives.
2. The surprising connection between thigh size and blood pressure
As you may or may not know, an apple-shaped
body and a large waist circumference are associated with a higher risk
of hypertension and other dangerous health conditions. Previous research
suggests that waist measurements of 102 cm and more in men and 88 cm in
women are likely to develop the condition.
When it comes to thigh measurements, though, the opposite seems to be
true, at least that’s what a study published in the journal Endocrine
Connections in April found. The research investigated the connection
between thigh circumference and blood pressure in 9,520 people.
According to the study, participants that were diagnosed as overweight
or obese had a lower chance to develop high blood pressure when they had
a larger thigh size.
We are yet to find out what accounts for these surprising findings, but
the authors of the study suggest the following, “The most likely cause
of this association is that there is more thigh muscle or fat deposited
under the skin which secretes various beneficial substances that help
keep blood pressure in a relatively stable range.”
3. Specific blood pressure medications prevent lung damage in people with severe Covid-19
We previously touched upon the cardiac
complications of Covid-19, but the association between the virus and
cardiovascular issues isn’t all bad news. In fact, several studies have
suggested at this point that one specific group of blood pressure
medication may actually protect Covid-19 patients from complications.
The medications in question are renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system
(RAAS) inhibitors, which are active in the same area of the cell
membrane through which SARS-CoV-2 enters the cells. Initially,
researchers feared that these medications may increase the risk of
severe Covid-19, but upon further investigation, studies conclude that
the opposite seems to be true.
In fact, according to a handful of studies, RAAS inhibitors could
prevent lung injuries brought about by Covid-19. One large review study,
for example, pointed out that “On the contrary, we found that there was
a significantly lower risk of death and critical outcomes, so they
might, in fact, have a protective role — particularly in patients with
hypertension.”
In any case, if you’re taking RAAS inhibitors to treat hypertension, you
needn’t worry about it increasing your risk of developing a severe form
of Covid-19. Furthermore, at this point, there is no convincing
evidence to suggest that having hypertension enhances the risk of
catching or having severe Covid-19.
4. High blood pressure increase dementia risk in most adults
Unfortunately, researchers also learned
this year that developing hypertension increases the probability of
having dementia later in life, no matter your age. The research in
question appeared in the journal Hypertension and it followed and
measured the cognitive function and blood pressure of over 6,000
participants in Brazil over the course of 4 years.
Having hypertension seems to speed up the process of cognitive decline.
According to the author of the study, Sandhi Maria Barreto, PhD, “We
initially anticipated that the negative effects of hypertension on
cognitive function would be more critical when hypertension started at a
younger age. However, our results show similar accelerated cognitive
performance decline whether hypertension started in middle age or at
older ages.”
The cognitive decline occurs because the brain depends on blood vessels
to feed nerve cells and clear up any waste materials that could
potentially affect brain functioning, including the plaques that occur
in Alzheimer’s. Since high blood pressure increases the risk of stroke
and impairs all of the above-listed processes in the brain, it leads to
cognitive decline.
But there is a silver lining - the researchers also found that early
diagnosis and effective treatment helps reduce or prevent the
acceleration of cognitive decline completely. So, make sure to treat
hypertension to keep the brain healthy and happy.
5. Taking daily bath benefits cardiovascular health
We all know that a hot bath can do wonders
for reducing stress, but the positive health effects of hot baths seem
to extend to cardiovascular health as well. According to a large
Japanese article published in the journal Heart, frequent baths improve
blood circulation and reduce hypertension in the long run.
This study involved over 30 thousand participants over the course of 20
years, and the researchers observed a 28% decreased risk of
cardiovascular issues and a 26% lower risk of a heart event in daily
bathers compared to those who took baths less frequently. The water
temperature seems to matter, too, as the study states that bathing in
hot water reduced the risk of cardiovascular issues to 35%, as opposed
to only 26% in warm water.
6. Dairy can protect the blood vessels from hypertension
We’re so used to limiting our intake of
dairy since we’ve been told time and time again that it can clog up the
arteries and lead to high blood pressure, but one nutrition study
published in 2020 challenges this idea. The study was published in the
journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, and it looked at data
from nearly 150,000 participants.
The study looked at the effect of dairy consumption on cardiovascular
health specifically, and surprisingly, the article concludes that eating
more whole fat dairy, so things like butter, cream, and whole fat milk
are actually capable of lowering one’s risk of hypertension, metabolic
syndrome, and diabetes.
So, for those of you who love dairy and can tolerate lactose, this study
is great news. A similar study also found back in 2017 that chocolate
can be beneficial for hypertension and may even prevent cardiovascular
issues.
7. Traffic noise may raise one’s risk of high blood pressure
The last very surprising study we’ll
feature in this article concerns traffic noise. Yes, unfortunately, the
sounds of traffic do seem to be not just annoying, but also quite
harmful for our physical wellbeing. That’s the conclusion of a Canadian
research paper published in 2020 in the Journal of the American Heart
Association. The data was collected from more than 1 million adult
Toronto residents over the course of 15 years.
The research points out that there may be serious long-term
repercussions to elevated traffic noise, namely an increased risk of
developing diabetes and high blood pressure, even after the authors
controlled for air pollution and other confounding factors. According to
the results, each 10-decibel rise in chronic traffic noise also raises
the risk of diabetes by 8% and the risk of hypertension by 2%.
As Hong Chen, the senior author of the study, pointed out this may have
to do with stress and poor sleep induced by traffic sounds. The stress
response could then lead to metabolic problems and insulin resistance
over time, which can culminate in diabetes and hypertension after years
of stressful traffic noises. Does that mean we should all get
noise-canceling headphones and use earplugs for sleeping? The study
doesn’t specify that, but we think it won’t hurt.