New Treatment for Teens with High Blood Pressure?

A common drug used to treat people suffering from gout might be the next big thing in treating teenagers with high blood pressure, according to data from a a new study.

The study, published by researchers from Baylor University and appearing in the new issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined how certain types of teenagers responded when treated with the drug allopurinol. Allopurinal is designed to reduce blood levels of a substance called uric acid. It is commonly used to treat gout, since elevated uric acid is the primary cause of the painful disease.

Earlier research has shown that some teens with high blood pressure have unexplained increases in their uric acid levels, leading the authors of the current study to suggest that drugs designed to reduce uric acid might have some benefit in treating high blood pressure in these specific patients. This theory was bold, because scientists were unsure whether the high blood pressure was casuing the increase in uric acid, or whether the increased uric acid was causing changes leading to high blood pressure.

Patients in the study group - who all had elevated uric acid levels - showed greater reductions in blood pressure when treated with allopurinol in addition to normal high blood pressure medicines. The patients on both medicines had larger overall drops in blood pressure than patients only receiving traditional treatments.

This research is a potential breakthrough in treating certain types of high blood pressure that are usually difficult to control. The authors caution, though, that allopurinol can be a dangerous drug and that traditional treatment - along with lifestyle changes - is still the most effective treatment for most patients