Approximately 95 million Americans (40%) are taking blood pressure medications and each year the number increases. But are these medications really necessary? Well the Cochrane researchers feel that this class of medication is over prescribed.
What is Cochrane and why are they different? Cochrane is a global group of independent physicians, researchers and scientist that are not affiliated with any pharmaceutical or medical associations. The collaboration was formed in response to a felt need to organize medical research information in an unbiased systematic way. Such organized information provides evidence for medical decision making.
The Cochrane researchers performed an analysis of 4 studies with over 16,732 individual and found there may be little to no difference in the number of overall deaths between those with higher (150/99) or lower (140/90) blood pressure targets. They also found that a lower blood pressure target reduces the risk of stroke better than a higher blood pressure target. And in patients with cardiovascular disease, they found a lower BP target probably stops 10 serious cardiovascular events for every 1000 people treated, which translates to 0.01% effectiveness.
Unfortunately, this unbiased evidence has not brought about a change in the way most doctors treat high blood pressure. Some physicians become entrenched in a way of practicing medicine and are skeptical of new evidence. Other physicians are more flexible and will even try natural therapies where ones blood pressure is too high. In the ideal world, your doctor would inform you of this research and allow you to take part in the decision making process of whether or not you want to stay on your anti-hypertensive medication.
Terry Pfau DO, HMD