A group of researchers has uncovered a method for forecasting individuals likely to respond positively to blood pressure treatments aimed at reducing body sodium levels.

The team from The Hunter Medical Research Institute and University of Newcastle in Australia figured out how to use each person’s individual genetics to inform treatment. Their findings were published in Circulation, a prestigious international cardiology journal.

High Blood Pressure, a Silent Killer

“High blood pressure — or hypertension related disease — kills up to 20 percent of people. At least 30 percent of the adult population has it — that’s one in three Australian adults — and only 30 percent of those people get it under control,” said Professor Murray Cairns in a paper published in the journal Circulation.

“The way people respond to drugs is different. We can measure an individual’s genetic risk of developing high blood pressure with respect to the physiological systems responsible — including kidneys, heart or smooth muscle – and then target medications accurately,” Cairns explained. Some hypertension medications work to lower sodium — and subsequently blood volume — in the body.

For some people, salt is not a significant factor in their hypertension so they may benefit more from treatments that target other biological aspects of their genetic risk.

With 80 percent of people ending up with some form of chronic disease, and 20 percent with two or more, genetic insights driving precision medicine could have a massive impact on global health. The team used real world data from the UK biobank in order to measure the interaction between sodium-associated genetic scores, sodium levels and blood pressure.

Source-IANS