BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- The odds of developing high blood pressure -- also called hypertension -- can increase because of many factors, from advancing age, to obesity to smoking. But new research has found that your parents' medical history is another important influence.

Doctors from Johns Hopkins University tracked blood pressure for 54 years in more than 1,100 male medical school students.

They found that having one parent who developed high blood pressure increased the men's odds of adult hypertension by 50 to 80 percent. If both parents had high blood pressure, the risk for their sons more than doubled.

But the greatest risk was in sons whose parents developed hypertension at a young age -- less than 55. For these men, the odds of high blood pressure increased by 600 percent.

Hypertension increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes, so experts said it's especially important for people with a family history of the disease to cut down on risk factors they can control.