Genetic Link to Blood Pressure Drugs

Scottish researchers have mapped a genetic location that explains why certain blood pressure-lowering drugs aren’t effective for everyone.

The findings bring us a step closer to developing targeted therapies for patients with high blood pressure who might otherwise be started on medications that won’t help, said lead author Sandosh Padmanabhan, of the British Heart Foundation Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

Finding genes that determine a person’s response to antihypertensive drugs is critical for effective therapy, and also for understanding the cause of the disease, Padmanabhan told the 2005 American Heart Association High Blood Pressure Research meeting in Washington.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure and kidney failure.