In a new study from the University of Oxford, researchers found blood pressure-lowering medication can prevent serious health conditions such as strokes, heart failure and heart attacks even in adults with normal blood pressure.
They found the beneficial effects of treatment were similar regardless of the starting blood pressure level, in both people who had previously had a heart attack or stroke and in those who had never had heart disease.
The findings have important implications for global clinical guidelines that typically limit blood pressure-lowering treatment to individuals with high blood pressure.
Heart disease and stroke, linked to high blood pressure, are the leading cause of death across most of the western world.
It is widely accepted that blood pressure medication protects people who have had a prior heart attack or stroke from having a second, but the use of these drugs in people with normal or mildly elevated blood pressure has been debated.
In the study, the team analyzed data from 344,716 adults (average age 65 years) in 48 studies to explore the effects of blood pressure-lowering medications.
Participants were separated into two groups: those with a prior diagnosis of heart disease and those without.
Over an average of four years follow-up, 42,324 participants had at least one major cardiovascular event (heart attack, stroke, heart failure, or death from cardiovascular disease).
For every 5 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure, the risk of developing major heart disease fell by around 10%, stroke by 13%, heart failure by 13%, ischaemic heart disease by 8%, and death from heart disease by 5%.
The team says it is important that people are considered for blood pressure-lowering treatment based on their cardiovascular risk, rather than focusing on blood pressure itself as a qualifying factor for or target of treatment.
Doctors need to provide well-rounded guidelines to lower risks for cardiovascular disease that include exercise, nutrition, smoking cessation, and—where appropriate—medication.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies about common anti-inflammation drug may increase high blood pressure risk and findings of this diet may help lower risks of diabetes and high blood pressure.
For more information about high blood pressure treatment and prevention, please see recent studies about your thigh size linked to high blood pressure risk and results about Is high blood pressure inevitable? Here’s how to keep it in check.
The study is published in The Lancet. One author of the study is Professor Kazem Rahimi.
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