High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is “a common health issue affecting an estimated 1.28 billion adults ages 30 to 79 worldwide.” Left untreated, “high blood pressure can cause heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.”
Doctors typically recommend that patients with hypertension “take medication and make lifestyle changes, such as regular exercise and a healthy diet, to lower their systolic blood pressure to around 140 mmHg.”
Systolic blood pressure, “the higher of the two numbers in a reading, reflects the pressure in the arteries when the heart is pumping blood.” A level of 140 mmHg “is considered high blood pressure, but it is on the lower end of the hypertension spectrum.”
Study Findings on Intensive Blood Pressure Control
A new study, published in The Lancet medical journal, reports that “intensive blood pressure control – taking steps to lower systolic blood pressure even further, to below 120 or 130 mmHg – can reduce people’s risk of major heart problems such as heart attack and stroke.”
The findings arrive “amid debate in the medical community over exactly how low people should aim to bring their blood pressure.” Some experts warn that “aggressive blood pressure control could raise the risk of falls among older adults.”
Also Read: Housing Wealth Engine Stalls as Prices Slip Behind Inflation
Largest Analysis of Its Kind
The Chinese research team described their work as “the most extensive analysis to date on how this approach affects people’s health.”
The study “analysed data from about 80,000 people who participated in six clinical trials testing blood pressure control methods in China, Canada, and the United States.” Across these trials, the results showed that “people who went the intensive control route – a combination of medication and lifestyle changes such as weight loss and quitting smoking – had fewer heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular-related deaths than people who were treated with standard blood pressure goals.”
Risks and Side Effects
The researchers cautioned that “the intensive control group was more likely to experience side effects such as dizziness, fainting, kidney problems, and abnormal heart rhythm.”
Even with these risks, the authors concluded that the findings suggest there is a “net benefit” to intensive blood pressure control.
Individualized Treatment Approach
The researchers recommended that “doctors take a nuanced approach that takes into account each of their patients’ circumstances.” They emphasized that the findings “underscore the importance of individualised strategies to optimise outcomes while avoiding both overtreatment and undertreatment.