The American Heart Association recommended Systolic (upper number in a blood pressure reading) and Diastolic (lower number in a blood pressure reading) blood pressure reading to be below 140 mm Hg and 80 mmHg respectively. Repeated readings above these thresholds are considered as hypertension. Reading lower than 90 mmHg or 60 mmHg is considered as low blood pressure or hypotension, which is also severe but less common compared to hypertension. Till date there is no cure for hypertension, but only medication can lower blood pressure. However, as part of pre-emptive healthcare, genetic screening tests such as MedGenome’s Hypersense can help an individual in detecting the risk of such a condition as early as 18 years of age.

Recently, Harvard Medical School (Broad Institute), USA has developed a CAD genetic risk prediction model integrating the genetic risk from comorbidities including genetic risk for Hypertension, for various global populations. MedGenome CAD screening test is now adapted to this model after validating it in the Indian population. With the increased focus on personalised medicine, using risk screening tools such as Polygenic Risk Score (PRS) will enable clinicians to predict an individual’s genetic liability to rare and inherited diseases much in advance before the symptoms start appearing. The results can be evaluated by clinicians and geneticists to guide patients in early intervention, disease risk mitigation, and better treatment strategies."

- Dr Ramesh Menon, Associate Director, MedGenome