Global insights from Milan: Highlights from the European Society of Hypertension Meeting
SecretariatHAHypertension Australia members Katie Harris and Katrina Kissock attended this year’s European Society of Hypertension Annual Meeting in Milan – Katrina’s first and Katie’s fourth.
Held at the new Allianz MiCo Congress Centre, the event drew over 2,050 participants from 106 countries, with 81 sessions, 150 oral presentations and 695 e-posters.
This year’s theme, Hypertension and Cardiovascular Protection, was explored through three core streams: mechanisms, lifespan perspectives, and cardiometabolic disease.
Katie's experience
As a statistician, I was particularly interested in the sessions on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, which showcased novel analytical approaches in the high blood pressure domain.
One of the most rewarding moments was presenting on the final day in the ‘Women’ session. My presentation, “Sex differences in blood pressure by age and menopause status and cardiovascular disease in the UK Biobank”, offered a fantastic opportunity to engage with colleagues from the ESH Hypertension in Women Working Group. It was also great to see another session dedicated to sex and gender in hypertension, organised by the Young Investigators Group of ESH.
Another highlight was the opportunity to network and reconnect with colleagues. On the first evening of the conference, I joined Australian and Swedish colleagues for a lovely Italian dinner – a great way to kick off the week (see photo).
Katrina's experience
Attending ESH 2025 allowed me to deepen my understanding of the basic and clinical aspects of hypertension, which are highly relevant to my current research into potassium-enriched salt and public health interventions.
The main highlight was presenting my work in a poster session on lifestyle management, titled “A feasibility study for a trial testing the effects of reduced-sodium salt on the rise in blood pressure with age.” It was incredibly valuable to share and discuss this research with clinicians and investigators from around the world who are equally passionate about hypertension.
As a dietitian and researcher working in the salt substitute space, I was also pleased to see several sessions dedicated to lifestyle management of hypertension. These were both engaging and insightful, reinforcing the critical role of nutrition and behavioural change in blood pressure control.
