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Is it time to reconsider the treatment paradigm for obese patients with hypertension?

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 36, pages 482–484 (2022)Cite this article

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The recent STEP trials reported blood pressure reductions for obese patients treated with semaglutide. We analyzed a cohort of patients attending our hypertension clinic and found that 26% were severely or morbidly obese and morbidly obese patients frequently had resistant hypertension (41%). We suggest semaglutide may be an effective anti-hypertensive agent for obese patients with resistant hypertension and this hypothesis should be assessed in randomized clinical trials.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Trinity College, Dublin 8, Ireland

    Cormac Kennedy, Richard Farnan, Patricia O’Connor, Martina Hennessy & Michael Barry

  2. St James Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland

    Cormac Kennedy, Osama Ali, Mary Hall, John Stinson, Patricia O’Connor, Martina Hennessy & Michael Barry

  3. LEO Pharma, Dublin, Ireland

    John Stinson

Authors
  1. Cormac Kennedy
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  2. Osama Ali
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  3. Richard Farnan
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  4. Mary Hall
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  5. John Stinson
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  6. Patricia O’Connor
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  7. Martina Hennessy
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  8. Michael Barry
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Contributions

CK was responsible for study concept and design, data acquisition, interpretation and analysis, drafting of the paper and final approval. RF was responsible for study concept and design, data acquisition and analysis, drafting of the paper and final approval. JS was responsible for study concept and design, data acquisition and interpretation, critical revision of the paper and final approval. POC, M Hall, M Hennessy and MB were responsible for study supervision, data acquisition and interpretation, critical review of the paper and final approval.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cormac Kennedy.

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Competing interests

The authors report no relationships that could be construed as a competing interests. JS is a clinical specialist at the clinic while also working in pharmaceutical industry. His employer does not manufacture anti-hypertensive medications.

Ethics approval

Ethical approval was granted by the Tallaght Hospital Research Ethics Committee.

Informed consent

Informed consent was sought and provided by all study participants.

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Kennedy, C., Ali, O., Farnan, R. et al. Is it time to reconsider the treatment paradigm for obese patients with hypertension?. J Hum Hypertens 36, 482–484 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-021-00630-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-021-00630-4

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