In 2015, a study showed that intensive blood pressure management reduced cardiovascular disease and lowered the risk of death.
In 2019, results of the SPRINT MIND trial showed that lowering blood pressure also reduced the risk of mild cognitive impairment in older adults.
In a recent study from Wake Forest University, scientists found that while intensive blood pressure control was beneficial to health, the benefits for heart disease death went away after approximately two years when the management was no longer followed.
The SPRINT trial confirmed that in adults 50 years and older with high blood pressure, targeting a systolic blood pressure of less than 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) reduced rates of cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and heart failure, as well as stroke, by 25%.
The target also reduced the risk of death by 27%—as compared to a target systolic pressure of 140 mm Hg.
In the current study, the team linked participants to the National Death Index from 2016 to 2020, which added 4.5 years of follow-up for mortality after the conclusion of the trial.
They also examined the electronic health records of trial participants for outpatient measurements of blood pressure.
They found a gradual increase in blood pressure for participants in the intensive treatment group, such that four or five years after the trial, there no longer appeared to be a difference in systolic blood pressure between the groups
The team says the message is very clear. Sustained blood pressure control is necessary to continue to reduce the burden of fatal heart disease events.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies about how fasting may help reverse high blood pressure, and this olive oil could reduce blood pressure in healthy people.
For more information about blood pressure health, please read studies that cherry concentrate could lower blood pressure as much as drugs, and 3 grams of omega-3s a day keep high blood pressure at bay.
The study was conducted by Nicholas Pajewski et al and published in JAMA Cardiology.
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