Family History and Genetics: Is High Blood Pressure Inherited?

With almost half of adults in the United States dealing with high blood pressure, it’s natural to wonder if the condition runs in families. Genetics often come into play when a health problem affects multiple members of a family. So, is high blood pressure actually inherited?

Read on to discover more about the role of family history and genetics in the risk of hypertension.

Family History Matters

If one or both of your parents or grandparents have struggled with keeping their blood pressure under control, you automatically have increased odds of facing the same issue. Hypertension tends to run in families for a few key reasons.

First, certain genes that impact blood pressure regulation and related processes in the body can be passed down from parents to children. When these genes are altered or abnormal, they may interfere with the body’s mechanisms for maintaining healthy blood flow and pressure.

Additionally, relatives tend to share similar environments and lifestyle habits around diet, exercise, alcohol consumption, and more. So, even without precise genetic similarities, family members may still engage in behaviors that put them at higher risk for high blood pressure over time.

Research clearly shows that having one or more close blood relatives with hypertension bumps up your own risk, especially if multiple members of your family deal with chronically elevated readings.

Scientists have discovered that first-degree relatives, meaning parents, siblings, or children, face the biggest increase in the likelihood of also developing high blood pressure at some point in life.

High Blood Pressure Has a Genetic Link

Studies on twins and families highlight that genetics contribute anywhere from 30-50% toward your blood pressure variability overall.

Researchers have successfully identified alterations in specific genes that normally help regulate fluid levels in the body or impact aspects of blood vessel function. When these genes malfunction or change, they may lead to uncontrolled elevation in pressure inside arteries over the long run.

So, while particular genes have strong associations with increased hypertension risk, they cannot fully explain disease development. Genetics is not the sole piece of the puzzle when it comes to pinpointing causes of chronically high blood pressure.

Additional influences such as diet, activity levels, weight, and other factors also determine your odds of receiving this troubling diagnosis from your physician at some point.

Making Lifestyle Changes, Even With Genetic Risk

Here’s some good news if your family history has you worried about hypertension: adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle may substantially cut your risk, even if you lost the genetic lottery.

Research reveals that sticking to a smart diet and consistent exercise habits has positive ties to lower blood pressure over time, despite what DNA you inherited from mom and dad.

Steps such as maintaining an appropriate weight, indulging only moderately in salty foods or alcohol, staying physically active on most days of the week, managing emotional stress, and not smoking can all keep your circulating pressure in the normal range.

Your physician may suggest making one or more of these changes and closely monitoring your blood pressure numbers moving forward, especially if close relatives deal with this progressive condition.

Other Causes of High Blood Pressure

So far, we’ve mainly focused on primary hypertension, which means cases without an identifiable cause behind the scenes. Also termed essential hypertension, this diagnosis accounts for around 90% – 95% of instances in adults.

When it comes to essential hypertension, complex interactions between genetics and environmental exposures are likely at play. However, secondary hypertension stemming from separate health conditions makes up the remainder of diagnoses.

In individuals with secondary hypertension, abnormalities in kidney function, certain endocrine tumors, or other issues such as congenital defects that alter blood flow end up elevating blood pressure chronically.

If you develop high blood pressure without any family history or obvious lifestyle link, your medical team will likely dig deeper to determine if an underlying disorder could be causing this issue. Catching and properly treating the responsible condition helps restore normal circulatory function in those cases.

Treatment Often Requires Lifestyle and Medication

Whether essential or secondary hypertension runs in your family or develops for less obvious reasons over time, getting this health problem under control remains essential.

If lifestyle measures alone fail to lower blood pressure readings, medications can also help protect your heart, blood vessels, kidneys, and more from ongoing damage related to this widespread issue.

Prescription pills allow many individuals to rein in their numbers and minimize threats like stroke, heart attack, and Alzheimer’s disease that hypertension, left uncontrolled, could trigger down the road.

However, maintaining a healthy body weight, restricting dietary sodium, staying active, and limiting alcohol intake should also remain high priorities to keep this condition at bay.

Conquer Your Genes and Reduce the Risk of High Blood Pressure with Imperial Center Family Medicine

Between shared genetics that regulate blood pressure and similar lifestyle habits, hypertension tends to cluster among relatives. Your risk increases substantially if multiple family members deal with chronically elevated readings.

But remember, genes are not necessarily destiny when it comes to your heart health. Adopting healthy daily habits around diet, exercise, sleep, and more can dramatically reduce your odds of receiving a hypertension diagnosis down the road.

If you have concerns about hypertension risk factors or want expert input on maintaining ideal cardiovascular wellness over the long haul, Imperial Center Family Medicine can help. Contact us today at 919-873-4437 or online to schedule a consultation.