A team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers, working with the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA), has discovered genetic associations with blood pressure that could guide future treatments for patients with hypertension.

The study, an international effort using data from sources including the VA Million Veteran Program (MVP) and United Kingdom (UK) Biobank, is published in the January issue of Nature Genetics. Todd Edwards, PhD, and Adriana Hung, MD, MPH served as two senior corresponding authors.

Researchers discovered over 250 new genetic variants, and also identified over 400 new genes associated with blood pressure through changes in gene expression. The findings also suggest that several existing drugs not currently used to treat high blood pressure could be used to potentially lower blood pressure.