Sudden cardiac arrest is a serious and unexpected event where the heart suddenly stops pumping blood effectively. This can cause a person to lose consciousness and stop breathing. If it’s not treated immediately, it can be fatal.
In Europe, sudden cardiac arrest is responsible for about half of all heart-related deaths and one in five natural deaths, making it a major public health concern.
While some people might experience warning signs like chest pain, difficulty breathing, or nausea before a cardiac arrest, it often strikes without any warning at all. This unpredictability makes it particularly dangerous and difficult to prevent.
Recently, a study by the European Sudden Cardiac Arrest network uncovered a potential risk linked to a commonly used drug for treating high blood pressure, raising concerns about its safety.
The drug in question is nifedipine, which is used to lower high blood pressure—a condition that can be compared to having too much pressure in your water pipes. By lowering this pressure, nifedipine helps to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
The researchers were also interested in another blood pressure medication called amlodipine, which works in a similar way to nifedipine.
To investigate any possible connection between these drugs and sudden cardiac arrest, the researchers analyzed data from two groups.
The first group included 2,503 patients who had experienced a cardiac arrest, and they were compared to 10,543 healthy individuals from a Dutch registry.
The findings were alarming: patients who took a high dose of nifedipine (60 mg/day) appeared to have an increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest. Interestingly, this risk was not observed in patients taking amlodipine.
To ensure their findings were accurate, the researchers looked at a second group consisting of 8,101 patients and 40,505 healthy individuals from the Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry. Once again, they found that a high dose of nifedipine might raise the risk of sudden cardiac arrest.
This discovery is surprising because both nifedipine and amlodipine have been used for many years to treat high blood pressure in a large number of patients.
Previous studies hadn’t identified this risk, likely because sudden cardiac arrest occurs so quickly and is challenging to study.
The researchers emphasize that this is just the beginning of understanding the potential link between nifedipine and sudden cardiac arrest.
More studies are needed to confirm these findings and to determine whether changes in medical guidelines are necessary. In the meantime, they suggest that doctors and patients should be cautious when using high doses of nifedipine until more is known.
This discovery is a crucial reminder that even medications that have been in use for a long time can have hidden risks that only become apparent with continued research.
It highlights the importance of ongoing studies to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the medicines we rely on.
As scientists continue to investigate, patients taking nifedipine should consult their doctors to discuss any concerns and to ensure they are using the safest and most effective treatments available.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and coconut sugar could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about added sugar in your diet linked to higher blood pressure, and results showing plant-based foods could benefit people with high blood pressure.
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