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U.S. Task Force Issues Blood Pressure Guidelines

Posted 12 days ago by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, May 15 – "Team-based care" should be used to improve patients' blood pressure control, the U.S. Task Force on Community Preventive Services recommended on Tuesday. The recommendation is based on a review of 77 studies that showed improvements in patients' control of blood pressure when they received care from a team of health professionals – a primary care doctor supported by a pharmacist, nurse, dietitian, social worker, or community health worker – rather than a primary care doctor alone. The task force found that team-based care increased the percentage of patients with controlled blood pressure, led to a decrease in both systolic (top number) and diastolic (bottom number) blood pressure, and improved results in patients with diabetes and elevated levels of blood fats. Team members assist primary care doctors by providing support and sharing responsibility for high blood ... Read more

New Guidelines Issued for Severe Lupus

Posted 3 May 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, May 3 – When diagnosed with lupus, one in three people already has kidney inflammation, and during the first 10 years with the disease as many as 60 percent of patients will have some kidney problems. Because kidney inflammation (also called lupus nephritis) is so common in people with lupus, the American College of Rheumatology has issued new guidelines for the screening and management of this potentially devastating complication of lupus. "Without treatment, lupus nephritis can lead to end-stage-renal disease, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant. But, not all types are this serious. It depends on the pattern of damage to the kidneys," said the lead author of the new guidelines, Dr. Bevra Hahn, a professor of medicine and chief of rheumatology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Hahn said the course of lupus ... Read more

Treatment Advances Improve the Odds for Heart Failure Patients

Posted 16 Feb 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Feb. 16 – Although a growing number of Americans now struggle with heart failure, experts say new treatments have dramatically improved both quality of life and life expectancy for these patients. "The present environment for heart failure is substantially improved, and the future holds promises that will truly remove the term 'failure' from the description of this illness," said Dr. Gregg Fonarow, director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center in Los Angeles and co-director of the Preventive Cardiology Program at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Clyde Yancy, past president of the American Heart Association and chief of cardiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, seconded that notion, pointing to what he sees as "the edge of a new dawn" in which advances in treatment will enable clinicians to "take the heft, the drama and the 'failure' out of ... Read more

Treating Prehypertension Lowers Stroke Risk: Study

Posted 8 Dec 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Dec. 8 – A new study found that the risk of stroke dropped about 22 percent in people with prehypertension who took drugs that lower blood pressure. These people didn't yet have high blood pressure, but they still benefited from taking the medications, although there was no significant reduction in the rate of heart attacks for people taking antihypertensives. "We know that blood pressure and stroke are closely related, and high blood pressure is an extremely high risk factor for stroke. If we could reduce blood pressure, we thought we could reduce the risk of stroke," said lead researcher Dr. Ilke Sipahi, an assistant professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University's Harrington-McLaughlin Heart and Vascular Institute and University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. "We found a highly statistically significant 22 percent risk reduction in stroke with any ... Read more

Taking Blood Pressure Meds at Bedtime May Be Better

Posted 24 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Oct. 24 – For the millions of Americans on blood pressure-lowering drugs, a new study suggests that taking the pills at bedtime may be best. It was known that taking blood pressure medications at different times of the day can affect patients' blood pressure patterns, but the impact on health wasn't known. The new Spanish study included 661 patients with chronic kidney disease and hypertension. Half of them took their prescribed blood pressure-lowering drugs at bedtime and half took their medications first thing in the morning. After an average follow-up of 5.4 years, the researchers found that patients who took at least one blood pressure-lowering drug at bedtime had better control of their blood pressure and were about one-third as likely to suffer a heart-related event such as heart attack, heart failure or stroke. The team at the University of Vigo also found that ... Read more

Hypertension, Not Blood Pressure Drugs, Linked to Birth Defects

Posted 19 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19 – Although pregnant women who have high blood pressure face a higher risk that their baby will be born with birth defects, new research indicates that the medications typically used to treat the condition will not raise that risk any further. The finding suggests that the widely used class of high blood pressure medications known as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are safe to use during the first trimester. Published online Oct. 18 in the BMJ, the study results fill in a piece of the puzzle regarding the use of such medications, given that prior research had indicated that ACE inhibitors can be toxic to a fetus if used in the second and/or third trimester of pregnancy. "Our finding suggests that it is likely the underlying hypertension, rather than use of antihypertensive drugs in the first trimester, that increases the risk of birth defects in ... Read more

Health Tip: Why Cough?

Posted 18 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com

-- Coughing is the body's way of ridding the respiratory tract of an irritating substance. Allergies, asthma or inhaling secondhand smoke are common triggers for a cough. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute mentions these additional potential causes: Air pollution or inhaling fumes from paint or perfume. Medical conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Bronchitis or a respiratory infection. Certain medications, including beta blockers and ACE inhibitors, both commonly prescribed to treat high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems. Read more

Heart Failure Care Influenced by Insurance Coverage

Posted 19 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Sept. 19 – The quality of care people with heart failure receive, along with outcomes, are significantly influenced by what type of insurance patients have, a new study finds. Medicare and Medicaid patients and those without health insurance are less likely to be given some essential treatments and tend to be hospitalized longer, researchers report. Medicaid patients were 22 percent more likely to die in the hospital than patients with private insurance, the researchers said. "I wish the results revealed a different story," said lead researcher Dr. John R. Kapoor, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. The findings reveal that disparities in heart failure care do exist and are associated with worse outcomes, he added, and these unequal practices should be corrected. "It remains medicine's major unhealed wound that care ... Read more

Accidental Medication Poisonings in Kids on the Rise

Posted 16 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Sept. 16 – Despite ongoing prevention efforts, a growing number of young children are being accidentally poisoned with medications, according to new research. The study, which was based on data reported to the American Association of Poison Control Centers between 2001 and 2008, found that medication poisoning among children aged 5 and under increased by 22 percent, although the number of children in the United States in this age group rose by only 8 percent during the study period. "The problem of pediatric poisoning in the U.S. is getting worse, not better," Dr. Randall Bond, of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said in a hospital news release. In conducting the study, which is scheduled for publication in the Journal of Pediatrics, the researchers reviewed information on over 544,000 children who landed in the emergency department due to medication poisoning ... Read more

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ACE Inhibitors Seem to Raise Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence

Posted 23 Apr 2011 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, April 21 – Two commonly used blood pressure medications seem to have opposite effects on the chances of breast cancer recurring in women with a personal history of the disease. Preliminary findings show that ACE inhibitors increased the risk of recurrence, which surprised even the researchers, who published their study online in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. On the other hand, beta blockers seemed to reduce the risk, which is in keeping with prior studies on the subject. Fortunately, when the two drugs were combined, beta blockers seemed to mitigate the increased risk of recurrence linked with ACE inhibitors. The study reflects the increasing interest among scientists in the effect the "microenvironment" – which can include chronically used medications in addition to alcohol, tobacco and physical activity – might have on the course of a particular ... Read more

Risks May Outweigh Benefits for Blood Pressure Drug Combo

Posted 22 Mar 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, March 22 – Many older people struggling with high blood pressure are being inappropriately and unnecessarily prescribed a combination blood pressure medications, a team of Canadian researchers warns. And, they caution, the often unwarranted dual protocol can have serious consequences: an increased risk for kidney failure and even death. The two types of drugs in question are angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). On their own, each is well established and highly effective for controlling blood pressure, the study team stressed. Also, a small number of people – those diagnosed with a particular blood pressure issue related to improper left ventricular systolic function – may derive some added benefit from taking the two medications concurrently, they say. But most seniors do not need both drugs, the researchers contend, ... Read more

Blood Pressure Drugs May Help Heart Patients Without Hypertension

Posted 1 Mar 2011 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, March 1 – In people with heart disease, the use of blood pressure-lowering medications can be beneficial, even in those who don't have high blood pressure, new research suggests. The study found that when people without high blood pressure were given blood pressure drugs, their risk of congestive heart failure, stroke, all-cause mortality and a combination of cardiovascular disease outcomes were reduced. "If someone has had a previous heart attack or other cardiovascular event, and their blood pressure is in the normal range, they're still at risk of future cardiovascular events. There may be an additional benefit to giving an anti-hypertensive medication to these folks," said study author Angela M. Thompson, a doctoral research fellow in the department of epidemiology at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. "Current treatment ... Read more

In Some Patients, Hypertension Meds Raise Blood Pressure

Posted 25 Aug 2010 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 25 – Popular prescription medications taken to control hypertension may actually boost blood pressure in a "statistically significant" percentage of patients, researchers report. The warning stems from a new study appearing in the online edition of the American Journal of Hypertension. The research involved 945 New York City residents participating in a program designed to control high blood pressure in the workplace from 1981 to 1998. "Every clinician knows that there's a variation in response to antihypertensive treatment, and that some patients will have an elevation in blood pressure," study author Dr. Michael Alderman, a professor of epidemiology & population health and of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and a former president of the American Society of Hypertension, said in a news release from the society. "The latter ... Read more

Drug Combo May Prevent Heart Attacks, Strokes

Posted 16 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Oct. 2 – Giving daily doses of a statin and a blood pressure-lowering ACE inhibitor to people at high risk for a heart attack or stroke reduced their incidence by more than 60 percent in two years, researchers report. People in the study all had diabetes or a history of cardiovascular disease, but the drug regimen probably could provide similar benefits to anyone vulnerable to cardiovascular trouble because of obesity, high blood pressure or simply old age, said Dr. R. James Dudl, diabetes clinic lead at the Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute in Oakland, Calif., and lead author of a report in the October issue of the American Journal of Managed Care. The study was based on a model that assumed that high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure were each responsible for about 25 percent of cardiovascular risk, Dudl said. "We hypothesized that while there were different ... Read more

Some Blood Pressure Drugs May Stave Off Dementia

Posted 12 Jan 2010 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Jan. 12 – Blood pressure drugs that block the protein angiotensin appear to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, a new study finds. "We think it [angiotensin] is one of the most important factors determining healthy blood vessels and also acts in the brain to help neurons to be a little more resilient," said Dr. Benjamin Wolozin, a professor of pharmacology and neurology at Boston University and senior author of a report on the findings, published online Jan. 13 in BMJ. That report describes a study of more than 819,000 U.S. veterans, nearly all men, that found that those taking blood pressure medications that block cell receptors for angiotensin had a lower risk for dementia than those taking other cardiovascular medicines. A similar but smaller protective effect was found for a related drug, lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril), which ... Read more

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Heart Failure, Congestive Heart Failure, High Blood Pressure, Hypertension, Diabetic Kidney Disease, Diabetic Nephropathy, Left Ventricular Dysfunction