The Hindu : Front Page : Good news for the hypertensive

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Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008
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Good news for the hypertensive

CHICAGO: Two major studies offer good news to people with high blood pressure, finding that novel ways to use cheap drugs already on the market can lower their risk of heart attacks and stroke — even if they are elderly.

The studies were stopped midway so the surprise benefits could be made known. Doctors presented results at an American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago.

“It is never too late to start” on blood pressure drugs, said Nigel Beckett of Imperial College in London, who led one study in the elderly that also was published online by the New England Journal of Medicine.

Worldwide spread

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide have high blood pressure — readings of 140 over 90 or more — and only a section of them have it well controlled by medicines. Guidelines advise starting on one, usually a “water pill,” and adding others as needed.

“Our idea is, if you have to add on, why not do two right off the bat” in a single pill, said Kenneth Jamerson of the University of Michigan. He led a study testing a single daily pill combining a diuretic and the ACE inhibitor benazepril versus a daily pill containing benazepril and a calcium channel blocker, amlodipine.

A total of 11,462 people in the U.S. and Nordic countries were given one combination or the other. Their average age was 68, and besides high blood pressure they were obese, had diabetes or other medical problems. — AP

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