Genes affect blood pressure from early childhood: Research

Certain hypertension-related genes influence blood pressure from an early age and raise the risk of cardiovascular disease as you become older. However, there is something you can do about it.”We are talking about really small differences, so small that they may fall within what is considered normal blood pressure. The problem is that they tend to last your whole life,” says PhD Candidate Karsten Ovretveit at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU) Department of Public Health and Nursing. He is one of the researchers behind a new study that has looked at the relationship between gene variants and blood pressure in the population.The study shows that high blood pressure occurs in all age groups and that it is related to hereditary factors. “We found that genetic factors affect blood pressure from the first years of childhood and throughout you