Silencing Angiotensinogen Gene to Lower Blood Pressure

Hypertension is the number one cause of disability-adjusted life-years worldwide and the world ’s leading risk factor for burden of disease and death. It is the most important risk factor for stroke and congestive heart failure, a major cause of kidney failure, and plays an important role in other forms of cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. Hypert ension affects approximately 48% of adults in the US and nearly 1 billion adults worldwide. Control of hypertension worldwide is dismal, and even in the US only 25% of adults achieve goal blood pressure (BP). BP elevations above 115/75 mm Hg are associated in a continuous fashion with the risk of fa tal stroke, ischemic heart disease, and noncardiac vascular disease, and each increase of 20 mm Hg systolic BP or 10 mm Hg diastolic BP doubles the risk of a fatal cardiovascular event. Thus, achieving goal BP is critical to improve outcomes of patients with hypertension, and risk of CVD is signific antly reduced by antihypertensive therapy. A 10 mm Hg lower systolic or 5 mm Hg lower diastolic BP results in a 40% reduction in stroke risk and a 30% reduction in ischemic heart disease risk. Control of BP to the therapeutic goal improves outcomes more than treating other chronic conditions, such a s dyslipidemia.
Source: JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research