A new study by researchers in London found more than 100 new gene regions associated with high blood pressure—a discovery that could help physicians identify at-risk patients and better target their treatments.

The study, published in Nature Genetics, was conducted by scientists at Queen Mary University in London (QMUL) and Imperial College London.

Hypertension affects about 21 million adults in the United Kingdom and can be responsible for stroke, heart attack and heart failure.

In the study, researchers tested 9.8 million genetic variants from 420,000 U.K. Biobank participants and compared it to their blood pressure data. They found 107 new gene regions, many of which were expressed in high levels of blood vessel and cardiovascular tissue.

Results suggest that by using genetic testing, physicians could reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke by giving certain medication to treat different strains of high blood pressure.

"Finding 107 new genetic regions linked to blood pressure almost doubles the amount of genes we can evaluate to target for drug treatment,” said Mark Caulfield, a lead author on the study and a professor at QMUL, in a statement. “These exciting genetic regions could provide the basis for new innovative preventative therapies and lifestyle changes for this major cause of heart disease and stroke."

Additionally, the researchers created a genetic risk score by linking health and hospital data from U.K. Biobank participants to their blood pressure genetics, a method that could be used to predict risk of stroke and coronary heart disease, according to the study. Using the method, researchers determined that the higher a person’s risk score, the more likely they were to develop hypertension by age 50.

"Ultimately, blood pressure in the general UK population is too high, and we encourage everyone to maintain healthy lifestyles by eating properly and exercising enough, as this will reduce the risk of all sorts of diseases,” said Paul Elliot, another author on the study and the chair of epidemiology and public health medicine at Imperial’s School of Public Health, in a statement. “However, our new findings may help doctors to identify earlier those who are most at risk of high blood pressure in mid-life and intervene to prevent that occurring."