More lives could be saved if doctors considered giving blood pressure drugs to all patients at high-risk of heart disease – even if their blood pressures are normal, a study suggests.<\/p>\n
The report calls for a move away from current guidelines which recommend pills only be prescribed if blood pressure is above a certain threshold.<\/p>\n
But experts acknowledge lifestyle factors also have an important role to play in bringing blood pressures down.<\/p>\n
The study appears in the Lancet.<\/p>\n
High blood pressure has long been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.<\/p>\n
Current guidelines – issued by England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – suggest patients should only take medication when their blood pressure levels reach 140 mmHg.<\/p>\n
Until this point even those at highest risk, for example people who have had previous heart attacks and strokes, are offered monitoring but not pills.<\/p>\n
Now a global team of experts are calling for doctors to focus on an individual’s risks rather than rigid and “arbitrary” blood pressure thresholds.<\/p>\n
Large trial<\/strong><\/p>\n Experts analysed the results of more than 100 large-scale trials involving some 600,000 people between 1966 and 2015.<\/p>\n They found those patients at highest risk – including smokers with high cholesterol levels and people over 65s with diabetes – would benefit most from treatment, lowering their chance of heart attacks and strokes.<\/p>\n In addition the report suggests once on treatment, blood pressure levels could be reduced even further than the targets currently used.<\/p>\n The study also adds to growing evidence that patients may benefit from lowering their blood pressure whatever their baseline levels – either through lifestyle changes or drugs.<\/p>\n But it shows the lower the person’s blood pressure to start with, the lower the benefit they gain from reducing it.<\/p>\n The authors do not go as far as to suggest everyone should be given pills and caution side-effects of medication must be weighed up.<\/p>\n Prof Liam Smeeth, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, agreed the findings were important for those at highest risk.<\/p>\n But he warned: “One important caveat is that not everyone will be able to tolerate having their blood pressure reduced to low levels, and there is a need to balance possible drug side effects and likely benefits.”<\/p>\n Heart specialist Dr Tim Chico, of the University of Sheffield, said medication need not be the only way to tackle the issue.<\/p>\n He added: “We can all reduce our blood pressure.<\/p>\n “We can do this safely, cheaply and as effectively as tablets by eating healthily, taking more physical activity, reducing alcohol intake, and maintaining a healthy weight.”<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" More lives could be saved if doctors considered giving blood pressure drugs to all patients at high-risk of heart disease – even if their blood pressures are normal, a study suggests. The report calls for a move away from current guidelines which recommend pills only be prescribed if blood pressure is above a certain threshold. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":21026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[15],"yoast_head":"\n