High blood pressure is a very common condition, especially among older adults. It increases the risk of serious health problems such as heart attacks and strokes.
For many years, doctors have treated high blood pressure with medications to keep it under control and protect the heart and blood vessels. However, as people get older, they often take many different medicines at the same time, which can increase the risk of side effects and drug interactions.
Because of this, there is growing interest in a medical approach called deprescribing. Deprescribing means carefully reducing or stopping medications that may no longer be needed or may cause more harm than benefit.
This approach is especially important for older adults who are frail or living in long-term care facilities, where managing multiple medications can be challenging.
A new study published in JAMA Network Open has explored whether stopping blood pressure medications in some older adults is safe. The research was led by Dr. Michelle C. Odden from Stanford University and focused on more than 13,000 older U.S. veterans who were living in long-term care homes between 2006 and 2019.
All of the participants were over the age of 65 and were taking at least one medication to treat high blood pressure. The researchers followed these individuals over a 12-week period, during which some continued their usual medications while others had their blood pressure drugs reduced or stopped.
About 18 percent of the participants had their medications deprescribed. The researchers then tracked both groups for up to two years to see how many people were hospitalized due to major heart problems, such as heart attacks or strokes.
The results showed that 11.2 percent of people in the deprescribed group were hospitalized for these conditions, compared to 8.8 percent in the group that continued taking their medications.
Although the number was slightly higher in the deprescribed group, the difference was not considered statistically significant after taking into account many health and personal factors.
This means that, in this study, stopping or reducing blood pressure medications did not clearly increase the risk of serious heart events for these older adults. This finding may provide some reassurance for doctors, patients, and families who are concerned about the risks of taking too many medications.
However, the researchers emphasized that this study cannot prove that deprescribing is always safe. It was an observational study, which means it looked at existing data rather than testing a treatment in a controlled experiment.
Even though the researchers adjusted for many known differences between the groups, there may still be other factors that were not measured and could have influenced the results.
For this reason, the researchers suggest that more studies, especially randomized clinical trials, are needed to better understand when and for whom deprescribing is safe.
Even with these limitations, the study adds important information to discussions about how to care for older adults. In long-term care settings, many people take several medications every day.
Reducing the number of medications, when appropriate, may improve comfort and quality of life. It may also lower the risk of side effects such as dizziness, falls, and harmful drug interactions.
The key message from this research is that decisions about stopping medications should be made carefully and individually. Patients, families, and healthcare providers should work together to weigh the benefits and risks. What is right for one person may not be right for another.
This study also highlights the importance of regularly reviewing medications, rather than assuming that all long-term treatments must continue forever. Good care involves not only prescribing medicines but also knowing when it might be safe to reduce them.
In addition to medication decisions, lifestyle choices can also play a role in managing blood pressure. Healthy eating patterns, regular physical activity, and other daily habits can support heart health and may reduce the need for medications in some cases.
As research continues, both medical treatments and lifestyle approaches will remain important tools in helping older adults manage their health safely and effectively.
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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