Should Borderline Blood Pressure Cases Take Meds?

Aug. 14, 2009 — -- Current heart health guidelines suggest that healthy adults whose blood pressure is higher than normal but below a level that would pose a significant risk for cardiovascular disease are not the best candidates for drug therapy. Instead, these patients exist in limbo with "pre-high blood pressure" or "pre-hypertension," which is a blood pressure between 120/80 and 140/90.

While current guidelines suggest that the 70 million adults in this category are not candidates for drug therapy, a new study published Thursday in the journal the Lancet says that such medical treatment to manage blood pressure could serve these patients better.

Researchers from Italy argued that pre-hypertensive patients should be treated aggressively to reduce their systolic (the top number) blood pressure -- the force that the blood exerts on arteries and which is measured in millimeters of mercury -- to under 130 to avoid full-blown hypertension and potential cardiac problems.

"There is a direct relationship between the usual levels of blood pressure and the risk of major cardiovascular events, according to epidemiological studies," said Dr. Paolo Verdecchia, from the Hospital S. Maria della Misericordia and ANMO Research Centre in Italy and lead author of the study, which was funded by the pharmaceutical companies Boehringer-Ingelheim, Sanofi-Aventis and Pfizer. "Even a small further reduction in blood pressure predicts a lower risk of major events" such as heart attack and stroke.

Verdecchia and his team studied 1,111 patients over age 55 who were randomly assigned to keep a target blood pressure of less than 140 or 130. At the end of two years, the more tightly controlled group was found to have less chance of abnormally thickened heart muscles, which indicates impending heart problems and fewer hospitalizations for heart-related issues.

No one in the study had diabetes, a major contributing factor for high blood pressure and heart disease.