by
Thomas Dworetzky, Contributing Reporter | November 12, 2015
A major federal study's full details show that more aggressive treatment for slightly elevated blood pressure may be more advisable than previously thought. But along with the indications for more treatment come some warnings about risks associated with more therapy.
NIH-supported researchers
reported more detailed results of the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) in the current online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine、 and also discussed them at the American Heart Association 2015 Scientific Sessions in Orlando on November 10.
"The findings were surprising. I think they were even surprising to the folks that put this trial together,” Dr. William Haley, principal investigator for Mayo Clinic,
told New4max. "Compared to the usual goal blood pressure that's been traditional — that a goal blood pressure of 120 was found to be associated with much lower risk of cardiovascular diseases and stroke and significant lowered risk of death."
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A key finding was that a systolic blood pressure of less than 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) in adults 50 years and older with high blood pressure (140/90) cut rates of cardiovascular events by 25 percent, including heart attacks and strokes. Lowering blood pressure also cut risk of death by 27 percent compared with 140 mm Hg systolic pressure.
“These results reinforce the compelling public health importance of enhancing the awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in this country and around the world,” Dr. Gary H. Gibbons, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the primary sponsor of SPRINT, said in a statement.
But how this new information will impact immediate practice and treatment is less clear.
“I think [the results are] certainly going to shift my approach, but it’s hard enough to get people to be on antihypertensives as is,” Dr. Marc A. Pfeffer, M.D., of Brigham & Women’s hospital in Boston, said at a
news conference at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando. “That’s why I was stressing that the doctor isn’t going to get a thank you, the patient is going to say ‘Another medicine?’ because that makes people feel they’re sicker than they were. We need a lot of education here, but I think if we do that, we’ll be lowering cardiovascular morbidity [and] mortality.”
