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E-Mail Most detailed study to date including 345,000 people from 48 randomised clinical trials finds that blood pressure-lowering medication is effective in adults regardless of starting blood pressure level. Each 5mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure lowered the relative risk of cardiovascular events by around 10%, even in people with normal blood pressure and those who had never had a heart attack or stroke. Authors call for global guidelines to be changed so that anyone with increased risk of cardiovascular disease is considered for blood-pressure lowering medication, irrespective of their blood pressure.
Blood pressure-lowering medication can prevent serious cardiovascular conditions such as strokes, heart failure and heart attacks even in adults with normal blood pressure, according to new research published in
Many more people could benefit from blood pressure-lowering medication – study
Many more people could benefit from blood pressure-lowering medication, according to a study (Anthony Devlin/PA)
Blood pressure-lowering medication may prevent serious conditions such as strokes, heart failure and heart attacks even in adults with normal blood pressure, new research suggests.
The benefits 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 study found.
Researchers say the findings have immediate and important implications for global clinical guidelines that typically limit blood pressure-lowering treatment to individuals with high blood pressure.
Millions more Britons could be prescribed pills that lower their blood pressure to help ward off strokes and heart attacks, a study has suggested.
Researchers found that blood pressure-lowering medication reduces the risk of serious heart conditions – even in adults with healthy blood pressure.
The benefits of treatment in preventing strokes, heart disease and death were found to be similar regardless of the starting blood pressure level of the patient, and whether or not they had pre-existing heart conditions.
Experts said the findings have important implications for current NHS guidelines that typically limit the medication to those with high blood pressure. Lead author Professor Kazem Rahimi, from the University of Oxford, said: ‘Our findings are of great importance to the debate concerning blood pressure treatment.