Blood Pressure

New research shows nearly everyone can lower their blood pressure, even people currently on blood pressure- reducing drugs, by lowering their sodium intake. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators have discovered that vasopressin, which has long been thought to be produced only in the brain, is also produced in the kidney. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have found that children with a genetic makeup that predicts high blood pressure as adults are more likely to survive congenital heart defect repair surgery. Read More

Heat therapy could offer a novel nonpharmacologic approach for treating the overnight hypertension that affects patients with autonomic failure. Read More

Excess dietary salt activates immune cells to induce inflammation and hypertension, supporting current recommendations for low sodium consumption. Read More

Consumption of soy foods may shape the microbiome and protect against hypertension only in individuals with soy-responsive microbiota, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that a protein called SGK1 in immune cells is activated by sodium, leading to the development of salt-sensitive hypertension. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have identified a pathway that links excess sodium, inflammation and hypertension. Read More

The initial results of a landmark clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicate lowering systolic blood pressure below a commonly recommended target significantly reduces rates of cardiovascular events and lowers risk of death in a group of adults 50 years and older. Read More

Changes in the kidney can limit the blood pressure-lowering effects of thiazide diuretics, a new study reports. Read More

Vanderbilt researchers have discovered that certain immune cells contribute to the development of hypertension, suggesting novel targets for treating the disease. Read More

Clinical pharmacologist Jens Titze, M.D., and his colleagues have identified a new cast of cells and molecules that function in the skin to control sodium balance and blood pressure. Read More

Clinical pharmacologist Jens Titze, M.D., and colleagues have discovered that – in contrast to the prevailing dogma – human sodium levels fluctuate rhythmically with 7-day and monthly cycles. Read More

Heart disease is still the leading cause of death for men in Tennessee and cancer deaths continue to move further away from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthy People 2020 goal, according to the 2012 Tennessee Men’s Health Report Card. Read More

A newer version of an old class of blood pressure lowering drugs may offer advantages for obese patients with metabolic syndrome. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have demonstrated that dopamine produced outside the brain – in the kidneys – is important for renal function, blood pressure regulation and life span. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a laboratory for health care reform. Increasingly, Vanderbilt researchers are applying their expertise in informatics, genomics, drug discovery, basic science and clinical medicine to the solution of critical problems in patient care. Bedside checklists and electronic “dashboards” developed at Vanderbilt, for example, enable doctors and… Read More

A non-cancerous tumor was slowly strangling a two-month-old baby. A Vanderbilt University Medical Center doctor gave the baby a very common blood pressure medicine and within a day, there were miraculous results. Barb Cramer has the story. Read More