A new study published in JAMA Network Open suggests that stopping blood pressure medications in some older adults living in long-term care facilities may not increase their risk of serious heart problems like heart attacks or strokes.
This finding adds to growing interest in “deprescribing”—a practice that involves reducing or stopping medications, especially in older people who often take many drugs at once.
The study was led by Dr. Michelle C. Odden from Stanford University and looked at data from more than 13,000 U.S. veterans who lived in long-term care homes between 2006 and 2019.
All of the participants were over 65 and taking at least one medication to manage high blood pressure. Over a 12-week period, researchers compared two groups: one that continued taking their medications and another in which medications were stopped or reduced.
About 18% of the veterans had their blood pressure medications deprescribed. Over the next two years, the researchers tracked how many people from each group were hospitalized for heart attacks or strokes.
They found that the rate was slightly higher in the deprescribed group (11.2%) compared to those who stayed on their medications (8.8%), but the difference wasn’t large enough to be considered statistically significant after adjusting for various health and personal factors.
This means that, in this group of older adults, stopping blood pressure medication didn’t clearly increase the chance of being hospitalized for major heart events. That could be reassuring news for families and doctors who are trying to simplify medication routines for frail or medically complex elderly patients.
However, the researchers also point out that this was an observational study, which means it can’t prove cause and effect.
While they adjusted for many known differences between the groups, it’s still possible that some unmeasured factors could have influenced the outcomes. That’s why they recommend more research, including randomized clinical trials, to get clearer answers.
Even so, this study adds useful information to the ongoing conversation about medication safety in older adults. In long-term care homes, where many residents take multiple medications each day, reducing drug burden could improve quality of life and lower the risk of side effects like dizziness, falls, or interactions between drugs.
The key message is that deprescribing should not be done automatically but should involve thoughtful, shared decision-making between patients, their families, and healthcare providers. Every person’s health situation is different, and decisions about medications should be based on individual goals and risks.
This study also supports the idea that good care for older adults includes more than just prescribing medications—it includes regularly reviewing them and asking whether they are still necessary.
If you’re interested in natural ways to help manage blood pressure, recent studies have looked at options like early time-restricted eating and natural sweeteners such as coconut sugar, which may lower blood pressure and reduce artery stiffness.
Others have explored how eating patterns and cultural diets—like modified versions of traditional Chinese meals—can support better heart health.
As research continues, both modern medicine and lifestyle changes offer potential tools to help manage blood pressure safely, especially for older adults with complex care needs.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that vitamin K helps cut heart disease risk by a third, and a year of exercise reversed worrisome heart failure.
For more health information, please see recent studies about supplements that could help prevent heart disease, stroke, and results showing this food ingredient may strongly increase heart disease death risk.
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