Friday, May 30, 2008

Anti-hypertension drug types do not influence outcome

Previous studies suggest that the effects of anti-hypertensive drugs might be smaller among elderly people and some guidelines recommend specific types of blood pressure lowering treatment for particular age groups.

According to the BMJ, a new meta-analyses of 31 trials with more than 190,000 participants "showed no clear difference between age groups in the effects of lowering blood pressure or any difference between the effects of the drug classes on major cardiovascular events, .... also showed no difference in effects between the two age groups for the outcome of major cardiovascular events".

Source: "Effects of different regimens to lower blood pressure on major cardiovascular events in older and younger adults: meta-analysis of randomised trials -Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration" BMJ 2008;336:1121-1123 ( free f/t)

No comments: