What to Know About the Link Between High Blood Pressure and Uterine Fibroids Here's what to know
A new study suggests a link between taking medication for hypertension, or high blood pressure, and a reduced risk of developing uterine fibroids
- New research shows a link between hypertension medication and a lower risk of uterine fibroids.
- More specifically, women who take medication to control high blood pressure may have a smaller chance of developing uterine fibroids, compared to those who don't.
- Further research is needed, but experts say blood pressure control may provide new avenues for fibroid prevention.
A new study suggests a link between hypertension medication and a reduced risk of developing uterine fibroids.
The findings, published April 16 in JAMA Network Open, show that women with untreated high blood pressure had a 19% higher risk of a fibroids diagnosis than those without hypertension.
Women who took medication to control their blood pressure, however, had a much smaller chance of developing fibroids—20% lower than that of people without hypertension.
Fibroids, benign tumors in the uterus that can cause pain and bleeding, have long been linked with cardiovascular risk factors. Research has shown that up to 40% of people with uterine fibroids also have hypertension. However, researchers don't fully understand how one condition affects the other.
“The cause-result relation is complicated and not clear at the moment,” Ayman Al-Hendy, MD, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago who wasn’t involved with the study, told Health.
The study provides new insights into the connection and, the authors note, suggest “that blood pressure control may provide new strategies for fibroid prevention.”
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Establishing a Link Between Hypertension Medications and Reduced Fibroid Risk
To examine the relationship between hypertension treatments and fibroids, researchers examined 2,570 women without fibroids aged 42 to 52. The women’s medical information was first collected in 1996 or 1997 and followed up semiannually until 2013.
At each visit, clinicians checked their blood pressure, took physical measurements, collected blood samples, and asked if they had taken any blood pressure medications or had been diagnosed with fibroids.
During the study, 20% of the women developed fibroids. The researchers compared information about women with fibroids to those who didn’t develop fibroids.
Compared to people without hypertension, people with newly diagnosed hypertension had a 45% higher risk of fibroids. Those with untreated hypertension had a 19% greater risk of developing fibroids, while the group with hypertension who took medication for it had a 20% lower chance of a fibroid diagnosis.
People who took angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors to lower their blood pressure had a 48% lower risk of developing fibroids.
“We found that being on any type of medication to help control high blood pressure was associated with lower risk of fibroids, and the reduction in fibroid risk seemed especially pronounced among the women taking an ACE inhibitor specifically,” Susanna Mitro, PhD, lead author of the study and a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, told Health.
Al-Hendy said using data based on clinical findings rather than self-reported information would have strengthened the study.
He also noted that the participants’ characteristics limited the study. Only about a quarter of the women in the study were clinically obese, a significant risk factor for fibroids. Also, the participants were age 42 or older, while fibroids are usually diagnosed between the ages of 30 and 40.
Can Hypertension Treatments Prevent or Treat Fibroids?
Researchers still don’t understand the role hypertension treatment may play in fibroid development.
Mitro stressed that her study only associated hypertension treatments with a reduced risk of uterine fibroids but didn’t explicitly answer whether the medications can help prevent or treat fibroids.
Al-Hendy and Michael D. Randell, MD, an obstetrician and gynecologist from Atlanta, Georgia, remain skeptical that they have that ability. However, Randall notes that “it’s possible that there exists a crucial time frame during which starting high blood pressure medications could demonstrate efficacy in preventing or treating uterine fibroids.”
Assuming hypertension medications do play a role in fibroid prevention, it’s also unknown how they might do so.
Mitro has a theory about ACE inhibitors. She thinks they may halt fibroid development by interrupting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system—the chain reaction that raises blood pressure when activated. Hormones released by the system bind to fibroid cells, helping them grow.
She said her future research will focus on the link between the system and ACE inhibitors.
This story originally appeared on: Health News - Author:Kristen Fischer
