Treating Blood Pressure Reduces Heart Disease
12/23/03
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research shows older people with untreated high systolic blood pressure may have a 90-percent greater risk of death or cardiovascular event over 14 years when compared with those who take medication for their high blood pressure.
The prevalence of isolated systolic hypertension, in which only the top number of a blood pressure reading is elevated, increases markedly with age. About 5 percent of people in their 60s have the condition. By the 80s, nearly 30 percent are affected. Treatment for systolic hypertension is considered quite successful, but many people with the disease are going untreated.
This study looked at long-term outcomes for three groups: systolic hypertension patients on high blood pressure medication, systolic hypertension patients taking a placebo, and people with normal blood pressure. At the beginning of the study, 19 percent of the systolic hypertension patients and 15 percent of the people with normal blood pressure had a history of cardiovascular disease.
Compared to the those with normal blood pressure, people taking medication for their high blood pressure were about 1.6-times more likely to experience a cardiovascular event after 14 years. Those taking the placebo were three times more likely to experience an event. Among people with no history of cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study, the systolic hypertension patients on medication had event rates that were about the same as the healthy controls, 29 percent and 27 percent, respectively. Event rates for systolic hypertension patients on the placebo, however, were significantly higher, at 69 percent.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2003;163:2728-2731
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