A change in medication can benefit patients with low blood pressure significantly more than simply increasing the dose of their current medication. A recent study from Uppsala University that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows this.
In this study, four different blood pressure-lowering drugs were tested on 280 people over one year.
It was clear in our study that some patients achieved lower blood pressure from one drug than from the other. This effect is large enough to be clinically relevant,” said Johan Sundström, cardiologist and professor of epidemiology at Uppsala University, who is the study’s first author.
Most Swedes sooner or later develop high blood pressure; Currently more than two million Swedish people have high blood pressure. Only a fifth of them have managed to get their blood pressure under control through drug therapy, and some studies show that only half of them take their blood pressure medication. Could it be because the efficacy and side effects of drugs vary from person to person?
Given the great variety of blood pressure medications, there is a serious risk that patients will not find the optimal medication on the first try, and this will result in low blood pressure and unnecessary side effects. A new study at Uppsala University investigated whether there is an optimal blood pressure medication for each individual, and therefore the potential for personalized blood pressure treatment. The study included 280 patients.
All of these individuals tested four different blood pressure medications back-to-back, at several different times over a total period of one year. The researchers observed that the effect of treatment varied widely from person to person and it was clear that some patients achieved lower blood pressure from one drug than from another.
The study’s findings challenge the strategy recommended in current treatment guidelines, which recommend four drug groups uniformly for all patients with high blood pressure.
“If we individualize each patient’s medication, we can achieve a better effect than randomly choosing one drug from these four drug groups. Our study shows that given the right blood pressure medication, the patient lower your blood pressure. And that could potentially result in better protection against future cardiovascular disease more quickly,” Sundstrom said.