Stiffness of arteries sole cause of high blood pressure study suggests

A computer model of a 'virtual human' pointed to stiffness of arteries as the sole cause of high blood pressure, scientists have warned.

High blood pressure, which is highly age-related affected over 1 billion people worldwide, but  doctors could not fully explain the cause of 90 per cent of all cases.

According to Klas Pettersen, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, the results suggested that arterial stiffness represented a major therapeutic target, which was contrary to existing models that typically explained high blood pressure in terms of defective kidney function.

The research is published in PLOS Computational Biology.

High blood pressure, a major source of morbidity and mortality, made individuals more prone to heart failure, stroke and kidney disease.

When blood pressure traveled down the aorta from the heart, a special group of cells in the aortic wall, called baroreceptors, sensed the pressure in this stretch of the aortic wall and sent signals with the information to the nervous system.

If the blood pressure was too high, the cells sent stronger signals and the body was able to lower blood pressure.

However, with the aorta getting stiffer as typically happened with age, the stretch of the aorta was not as sensitive as it once was in measuring blood pressure.

High blood pressure affects over a billion people across the globe, however the cause of 90 per cent of the cases of this highly age-related condition had eluded explanation by physicians until now.

With existing experimental data, the researchers were able to determine how the stiffening of the aorta could cause baroreceptors to misdirect the nervous system about blood pressure, and disrupt the blood pressure lowering response.