Treat high blood pressure aggressively to save lives, trial suggests
- September 14, 2015, 9:17 pm
- Health News
- 155 Views
HQ City Desk
QUETTA: Blood pressure treatment guidelines in Canada could change, say experts, after a major U.S. trial was stopped early when aggressive controls cut the risk of death and heart disease in people aged 50 and older.
The trial, called Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial or SPRINT, was designed to investigate whether lower blood pressure reduces health risks.
When a person's blood pressure is elevated for an extended period of time, it increases the risk of heart attacks, stroke, kidney failure, and other health consequences. It is a leading cause of death and disability in the U.S., Canada and worldwide.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health's clinical trial included more than 9,300 participants aged 50 and older.
"More intensive management of high blood pressure in people 50 years and older can save lives and reduce cardiovascular complications such as heart attacks," said Dr. Gary Gibbons, director of the NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which sponsored the trial.
Half of participants received an average of two blood pressure-reducing medications with the goal of lowering their systolic or top blood pressure when the heart contracts to below 140. The others received an average of three medications in the hopes of reaching below 120.
Those in the lower target group of 120 cut their risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart failure by almost a third and the risk of death by nearly a quarter, researchers said Friday.
Dr. Jacob Udell, a cardiologist at Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in Toronto, called the findings a gamechanger.
"This will have a huge impact on my clinical practice and I believe the practice of Canadian physicians," Udell said.
But first physicians will need to take a step back, wade through all of the data when it is published to assess which patients are candidates and what the potential risks are, Udell said.
