A collaborative study involving the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (CVM) and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) at the University of Oxford has recently been highlighted by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as a Feature Story. The study has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that may help doctors better understand how high blood pressure affects different organs long before serious complications develop. The findings were recently published in Circulation, a leading journal in cardiovascular medicine.
Led by researchers at the University of Oxford, the study analysed imaging and clinical data from more than 27,000 participants in UK Biobank, with validation in a further 5,500 participants from the US-based Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.
The team developed an AI-derived measure called HyperScore, designed to assess the extent of organ damage caused by hypertension across multiple body systems. Rather than relying solely on blood pressure measurements, the approach combines information from heart scans, brain MRI, blood vessels, kidneys, liver, body composition and blood tests to create a more comprehensive picture of disease progression.
The researchers also identified six distinct patterns of hypertension-related disease, known as HyperTrajectories, highlighting that high blood pressure can affect individuals in very different ways. People with higher HyperScores were found to be at greater risk of future cardiovascular events, even when blood pressure readings alone did not clearly distinguish their level of risk.
The interdisciplinary study was led by Prof Paul Leeson, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Radcliffe Department of Medicine. Prof Abhirup Banerjee, Royal Society University Research Fellow and Associate Professor at the IBME, provided technical leadership for the study. The paper was first-authored by Dr Mohanad Alkhodari, who carried out the work during his DPhil jointly supervised by Prof Leeson and Prof Banerjee, and Dr Winok Lapidaire, neurologist and Principal Investigator.
When asked about the success of the project, Prof Banerjee said: “It is wonderful to see a project that began with a serendipitous train journey from Marylebone to Oxford reach publication in Circulation and now be highlighted by UKRI. This is only the first step, and we are excited to build on these findings to develop tools that can support earlier, more personalised prevention of cardiovascular complications.”
The team is now building on these findings through a series of follow-on projects focused on real-world clinical translation, including studies investigating hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and the development of tools that could help doctors identify patients at greatest risk of complications at an earlier stage.
The research was supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, the British Heart Foundation, and the Royal Society.
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