'Give more people blood pressure pills to save lives', claims study

MILLIONS more people should be prescribed blood pressure drugs after calls to lower what are currently regarded as safe levels, a study has recommended.

 

Blood pressure pills may help millions

 

The move could help cut the number of deaths from stroke and heart attacks, according to research.

The study suggests the drugs should be offered to all people considered at high risk, regardless of their readings at the start of treatment.

The authors are calling for an "urgent" revision of current blood pressure-lowering guidelines that have recently relaxed blood pressure targets from 130/85 mmHg to 140/90 mmHg, and for the elderly to even higher targets of 150/90 mmHg.

Blood pressure to a lower level than currently recommended could greatly reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease

Kazem Rahimi

 

They also recommend a shift from rigid blood pressure targets to individualised risk-based targets, even when blood pressure is below 130 mmHg before treatment.

Professor Kazem Rahimi led the study at the George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford.

He said: "Our findings clearly show that treating blood pressure to a lower level than currently recommended could greatly reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease and potentially save millions of lives if the treatment was widely implemented.

"Blood pressure-lowering drugs should be offered to all patients at high risk of having a heart attack or stroke, whatever their reason for being at risk."

 

High blood pressure is the leading case of heart disease and stroke

 

The study is the largest analysis conducted to date, involving more than 600,000 people and the findings were published in The Lancet journal this week.

High blood pressure, the leading cause of heart disease and stroke, affects more than one billion people worldwide and kills 9.4 million people every year.

The benefit of lowering it in patients with substantially raised blood pressure is already well established.

 

The study suggests more lives could be saved if doctors used blood pressure lowering drugs

 

But uncertainty remains about whether to treat people with lower blood pressure and which drugs to use.

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Current guidelines propose that only people with 'high' blood pressure should be offered blood pressure-lowering drugs, regardless of their overall risk of heart disease.

"This study suggests that more lives could be saved and more heart attacks and strokes prevented if doctors considered using blood pressurelowering drugs in patients at high risk of a cardiovascular event, particularly those with a history of cardiovascular disease, even if their blood pressure is not considered 'high'."