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Article: Every over-55 'needs blood pressure drugs'
- Article from:
- The Scotsman
- Article date:
- May 20, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Scotsman. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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EVERYONE aged 55 and over should be taking drugs to lower their
blood pressure, even if their reading is normal, a report has said.
Publishing a review of almost 150 studies, Professor Malcolm Law
said the drugs lowered the risk of heart attack, heart failure and
stroke, regardless of somebody's current reading.
He and colleagues published their findings from the largest
review yet of clinical trials involving blood pressure drugs in the
British Medical Journal.
They found most types of drugs to treat blood pressure had
similar effects, cutting the risk of heart attacks and heart failure
by around a quarter and the risk of stroke by a third.
These figures were based on lowering systolic ...