As I read the current medical journals, I have to make use of a new “library” of terms that refer to our bodies’ genes, RNA messengers, proteins and enzymes, not to mention the generic names of the drugs meant to impact the molecular basis of disease. But as medical knowledge becomes more “micro,” we can’t discount the macro…the need for individuals to get basic screening, diagnosis and therapy of common disorders. There is no requirement for medical ten-dollar words to understand the recent “Vital Signs” article in JAMA. It was a report by the National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC, documenting the prevalence, treatment and control of hypertension in the United States.  Here are some of the stats that they reported, which could on their own make ones blood pressure go up by at least a few points. (I’m talking systolic here…)

• Every year, hypertension contributes to one out of seven deaths in the U.S. and tonearly half of all cardiovascular disease-related deaths (heart attack and stroke).Hypertension affects an estimated 68 million U.S. adults.
• If all individuals received adequate treatment for their hypertension, 46,000 deaths might be averted each year.
• Direct and indirect costs of hypertension are more than $93.5 billion per year
• Cardiovascular disease and stroke account for 17% of total health expenditures in the US annually
• Overall U.S prevalence of hypertension among adults after the age of 18 between 2005 and 2008 was 30.9% (and highest among persons at or older than 65). This prevalence has remained unchanged during the past 10 years.
• 30% of patients with hypertension are not being treated pharmacologically.
• Only 45.8% of those with hypertension have their blood pressure adequately controlled.

There are, of course, recommendations as to what should be done to deal with this pervasive disorder and the resultant disease. Blood pressure readings should be taken seriously (and regularly). Anyone who has a blood pressure that is 140/90 needs to consider medication and lifestyle changes. Physicians now think that blood pressure reductions below the threshold for clinical hypertension (115/75) can have health benefits over time. An analysis of over 61 prospective observational studies of blood pressure and mortality (you know the ones that follow large groups of individuals for years) have shown that for each 20 mmHG increase in usual systolic blood pressure (This is the top number in blood pressure readings and represents the pressure that your heart is exerting to get the blood to flow through your arteries) or 10mmHG increase in usual diastolic blood pressure (which represents the pressure of the vessels between heart beats) above 115/75 mmHG was associated with a doubling in stroke mortality and death from heart attack at ages 40 to 69.

Before I sound the “get thee medicated” alarm, let’s go over the behavioral changes that can impact blood pressure. They should be adopted by all of us. (I’m sure we all know them, but since the American Heart Association has made them official here they are: (1) achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight; (2) participating in regular leisure-time physical activity (and I don’t think shopping counts, unless you have to walk rapidly for a total of 30 minutes from store to store to car.) (3) adoption of a healthy diet, including reducing salt intake and increasing potassium intake; (4) smoking cessation; and (5) stress management) Note, the AHA gave no indication in this report as to how to do this and I’m not going to begin to tackle stress reduction  in this “brief” newsletter. It would require a treatise in philosophy, psychology, economics and the 24-hour news cycle!

There are, of course, multiple pharmacologic therapies and frequently more than one is needed to achieve adequate blood pressure control. That’s where a physician’s knowledge and choices of medication are needed (as well as health insurance to help pay for access to the physician, appropriate follow-up and purchase of the medications… According to this CDC report, one of the groups with the lowest prevalence of blood pressure control consists of individuals without health insurance.)

Molecular biology may help us understand the whys, wherefores and potential treatments of disease. But unless we self-maintain our own health by eating right, moving our derrieres off the chair (I guess you should get off your computer, iPad or Blackberry where you are currently reading this admonition), adhere to prescribed medication and improve access to care, that “one in seven” (deaths due to hypertension) will continue.

Bottom line: Make sure your blood pressure is checked regularly and if elevated, even “a bit” (over 115/75) work on your lifestyle. If 140/90 or over, check with your physician as to your need for medication and adhere to whatever is prescribed. The pressures of life (and death) start with your own!

In the midst of our horror about the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor disasters in Japan and concerns about the latter’s impact on the air, ocean and life forms, I thought that the timing of the article in the March issue of The New England Journal of Medicine was intriguing. It brought up another less immediate but valid concern, that of the effect of coal on our food and risk of disease.  (I hope that those of you reading this article acknowledge coal’s impact on climate change and the ecologic repercussions that are, in themselves, a disaster). The NEJM article was titled “Mercury Exposure and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Two U.S. Cohorts.”

A quick review: as we use coal for power, we contaminate our atmosphere with mercury. This then returns to the oceans of the earth and is incorporated into plankton where it is converted into organic methylmercury. The latter is stored in the fat of fish. As larger fish eat smaller fish, their levels of methylmercury go up. We then eat the fish and the methylmercury gets into our bodies (and is also stored in our fat). Chronic, low-level methylmercury exposure can cause neurodevelopment delay in infants. It’s currently recommended that women of childbearing age, pregnant or nursing mothers, and infants and young children eat no more than 2 servings of fish per week and also limit their intake of certain species of fish that are especially high in mercury. The worst culprits are the ones on the top of the fish eating food chain: shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish. Then to complicate matters, fish from streams and rivers in areas that have high mercury pollution may also be less than safe, especially if consumed regularly. (For information on mercury pollution check http://www.epa.gov/mercury/advisories.htm.)

For adults, the main health concern regarding chronic low levels of methylmercury (not high, toxic ones) is the risk for cardiovascular damage and disease. Government agencies, the Institute of Medicine and (I assume) the rest of us want to know if mercury exposure is correlated with cardiovascular disease.

There has been robust research that shows that fish consumption is heart healthy; indeed, fish intake has been shown to be inversely associated with the risk of coronary heart disease, especially fatal heart attack and stroke. So what is a fish eating person (like myself, who does not eat meat) to do?

Researchers from Harvard, the University of Washington, and the University of Missouri studied mercury exposure in 2 large groups of individuals. The first was comprised of male physicians followed from 1986 in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (don’t get me started on my gender protests regarding this study) and the second was through the Nurses Health Study (as you may guess, all female) in which the nurses were followed from 1976. The two studies totaled 51,529 men and 121,700 women.
And here is where it gets really interesting… Their toenail clippings were stored! (I read this, believe it or not, while getting a pedicure and wondered if I should save my own toe nail clippings for research.) Apparently concentrations of mercury and selenium in toenails have been found to be excellent biomarkers of usual methylmercury and selenium exposure. The researchers wanted to check selenium (which we get from consuming plants grown on selenium –rich soil) because this trace element provides protection against mercury toxicity in some experimental studies.

They identified 3427 participants with cardiovascular disease and matched them to controls who were the same age, sex, race and smoking status. They also had information on their fish consumption and lifestyle habits. Their toenail mercury and selenium concentrations were assessed by (and I’m sure you will get this) the use of neutron-activation analysis. The usual complicated statistical analysis (actually called a multivariate analysis) was done and demonstrated that participants with higher mercury exposures did not have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease nor did selenium concentrations make a difference in the results.
The authors concluded that their findings “provide no support for clinically relevant adverse affects of typical levels of dietary methylmercury exposure on cardiovascular disease in U.S. adults”. They went on to state that the absence of an association “should not alter ongoing public health and policy efforts to reduce mercury contamination in fish and the environment.”

Bottom line: Most of us can continue to eat the “right” fish for our heart’s sake, but women who are pregnant or may become pregnant, or who are breast feeding should limit their fish consumption. Now, we can start worrying about the impact of radiation on those fish…