Posted on 09/20/2024 8:57:41 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
A widely used drug could be the key to treating many patients with uncontrolled high blood pressure, particularly for patients with a common gene variant, according to research.
In the study, people with high blood pressure who had two copies of the variation experienced a 5% reduction in their average blood pressure after taking the drug torasemide for 16 weeks.
Torasemide is a drug used to treat fluid overload caused by many conditions, including heart failure, kidney disease and liver disease. Until now, loop diuretics like torasemide have not been commonly used to treat high blood pressure.
Patients with two copies of a common variation of the gene uromodulin—found in approximately two thirds of the population—saw a greater and more sustained fall in their blood pressure than patients with one or no copies.
This research offers hope that personalized blood pressure treatment based on a patient's genetic profile could be key to helping people with uncontrolled hypertension nationwide.
In this trial, 174 participants from hospitals across Scotland with uncontrolled hypertension were treated with torasemide for 16 weeks. Blood pressure was measured at the start of the trial, after eight weeks, and after 16 weeks of treatment.
Genetic tests on saliva samples were used to determine how many copies of the variant participants had. The results showed 118 of the participants—just over two thirds—had two copies of the variation.
Average blood pressure fell for both groups after 16 weeks of treatment—by nearly 5% in the double variation group and 2.3% in those with single or no gene variation. The fall was more sustained and consistent in those with both copies of the variation, while the other group experienced a rebound in blood pressure after an initial drop.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
It would seem there is a 67% chance it would reduce it for others with uncontrolled blood pressure.
A 5% drop from 180 would take off 9 mm Hg (points).
They failed to give specifics on the genetic variants so that those of us who have a DNA test can look it up. I hate it when articles do this. But at least I know this is something I need to research
It would be a genetic test for uromodulin.
So the question then becomes, “Does reducing the blood pressure from 180 to 170 actually decrease heart attacks, strokes or reduce total mortality?”
Back when my systolic blood pressure was 155, Valsartan would drop it to 125 - a very unusual amount. Micardis dropped it to 148 (about 5%). The military could get Micardis cheaper, so they gave that to me instead. Nothing quite like government health care!
I could understand taking Valsartan, but figured Micardis wasn’t worth the effort.
The good news was going to Keto and losing a bunch of weight has, eventually, dropped my systolic to the upper 120s without medicine.
Yes! Good for you.
Also, each five grams of soluble fiber added reduces systolic 2.8 mm Hg.
Super Beets did the trick for me.
A few years back, Howie Carr used to run ads for it on his radio show.
I gave it a shot and my BP went from the 150s to the 120s and below.
Bkmk
The article is about very specific genetic cases, while there are a number of conditions that lead to “uncontolled” (I call is medicine resistent) hypertension, most of which have zero, zip, zilch to do with fluid retention.
Arteries (or an artery) to the kidnies (or a kidney) that is blocked or has a restricted flow can cause nerve-information signals that become treated as a demand for more blood pressure.
A faulty thyroid that results in hypothyroidism can cause changes that result in higher blood pressure.
Some issues with the adrenal glands can cause chemical imbalances that cause higher blood pressure.
A neck injury that injurs or upsets a group of nerve sensors (baroreceptors) along the carotoid arteries can cause extremes in blood presssure.
Bradycardia - low pulse/heart rate, is now known to possibly cause high blood pressure.
Just to name a few.
Fluid retention is very old school when it comes to trying to regulate blood pressure.
I had high blood pressure and for the first time in quite a few decades no longer take any diuretic and have vastly, vastly reduced doses of two other meds, with no lingering high blood pressure, after we got a pacemaker that got rid of the bradycardia. I can now eat all sorts of very salty things with no noticeable affect on my blood pressure at all - because fluid retention was never really the problem.
Also, many doctors see “fluid retention” in the ankles and feet of someone with high blood pressure and assume it is blood vessel related, when often is not blood vessel related but lymphatic and diuretics usually can’t do much about that.
That isn’t the problem. It doesn’t list the genetic variant issue to look for meaning i now have to go find the specifics from a better article. I can pull up all my variants for that gene from the Nebula whole gene test but it wont neccessarily tell me i have the mysterious unnamed specific applicable variant. I have to know the variant to look for.
That is what I hate about these types of articles. But at least it makes me aware of the issue.
UMOD (uromodulin) has been linked to hypertension through potential activation of Na+-K+-2Cl− cotransporter (NKCC2), a target of loop diuretics. We posited that hypertensive patients carrying the rs13333226-AA UMOD genotype would demonstrate greater blood pressure responses to loop diuretics, potentially mediated by this UMOD/NKCC2 interaction.
Your work is done.
Abstract
Background: Genome-wide association studies identified the major A allele of SNP rs13333226 to be associated with increased BP and uromodulin excretion. Observational studies indicate those with rs13333226-AA genotype have greater BP lowering in response to loop diuretics.
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/hyp.80.suppl_1.P393
If you have the “rs13333226-AA genotype,” you get the 5% benefit. Nothing more is needed to be found.
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