Mortality Following Stroke as an Example of the Importance of Raised Blood Pressure as a Mediating Mechanism of Aging

Raised blood pressure, hypertension, is an important mechanism involved in the transmission of age-related damage from low-level biochemical changes to high level structural damage and organ failure. The importance of blood pressure in this context is why significant reductions in mortality rate can be achieved by means of lowering blood pressure, by overriding cellular reactions or cell signaling, that fail to address any of the underlying root causes of hypertension. These root causes are largely the set of biochemical changes that act to stiffen blood vessels, as hypertension appears to be near entirely a consequence of loss of elasticity in the vascular system. They include cross-linking, cellular senescence, and a range of less well understood shifts in the capabilities and behavior of vascular smooth muscle cells. If reductions in blood pressure now can achieve useful results, imagine the far greater benefits that will result once rejuvenation therapies exist capable of repairing the low-level damage that causes vascular stiffness. Not only hypertension will be addressed, but also all of the other issues that this damage in cells and tissues gives rise to. Treating high blood pressure in stroke survivors more aggressively, could cut deaths by one-third, according to new research. "The potential to reduce mortality and recurrent stroke is immense, because more than half of all strokes are attributable to uncontrolled high blood pressure." In the AHA/ACC guidelin...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs