High Blood Pressure is a Family Affair

High blood pressure is the kind of inheritance you don’t want to leave to the kids, but researchers say a long-term study emphasizes the existence of that genetic link.

“What we found was that if parents have hypertension early, their children have a significantly higher risk of developing hypertension at an early age,” said Nae-Yuh Wang, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University and lead author of a report in the March 24 issue of the “Archives of Internal Medicine.” “If the parents develop hypertension at the age of 55 or earlier, the lifetime risk for the children is seven-fold higher than normal.”

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