Intensive Blood Pressure Treatment Reduces Risk for Patients at High Risk for Heart Failure
TYLER, Texas (October 10, 2022) – Dr. Jarett Berry, The University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine Department of Medicine Chair, recently published an article explaining a new treatment to reduce the risk of heart failure.
Published in the American College of Cardiology, one of the top three cardiology journals in the nation, the paper details how intense blood pressure treatment is more effective than the standard treatment.
“This treatment was particularly effective with patients who were more likely to suffer heart failure,” said Dr. Berry, the senior author of this paper. “These at-risk patients suffered from left ventricular hypertrophy combined with blood-based biomarkers.”
Left ventricular hypertrophy is a thickening of the heart muscle, caused by untreated high blood pressure. When it’s combined with certain biomarkers, it can increase the risk for heart failure or death by almost 25%. However, little is known about how to prevent this. This paper represents the first time that a treatment has been observed to help this group of patients, he added.
“Previous studies have shown that malignant LVH is associated with a unique natural history characterized by a high risk for heart failure and death. However, until now, we had no proven therapies for its treatment. Our data suggest for the first time that this risk is modifiable through intensive lowering of blood pressure to less than 120 mmHg,” said Dr. Berry.
You can find the published article here: https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2022.08.735
Those at risk for heart failure can also pursue other methods of preventing high blood pressure and, potentially, heart failure. As part of the Lifestyle Change Programs, the UT Tyler Health Science Center currently offers blood pressure management courses, led by state-certified community health workers, as one of its preventive medicine outreach initiatives. As a result of this program, The UT Tyler Health Science Center was awarded a BP silver certificate by the Target BP program by the American Heart Association and the American Medical Association.
The blood pressure management initiative provides information about controlling blood pressure and making health lifestyle choices. This program occurs over 12 weeks with seven meetings, occurring every other week. “Blood pressure management is essential to living well, and this program will equip members of the East Texas community to take control of their health,” says Dr. Paul McGaha, the UT Tyler Department of Preventive Medicine and Population Health chair. “It’s our goal to use this program to serve all of East Texas, especially the underserved areas within the region.”
To sign up for this program or for more information, email [email protected] or visit https://www.uthct.edu/blood-pressure-management/
With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate programs to 10,000 students. UT Tyler recently merged with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (now known as UT Tyler Health Science Center). Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center (HSC) and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.
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