A study from Sweden has gone on to show that patients who have been treated with drugs that are used to lower blood pressure can get better results after changing medications as compared to doubling the dosage of their existing medications. Researchers aimed at investigating if there was an optimal blood pressure drug for every individual that led to a potential treatment for blood pressure.
Notably, four varied blood pressure-lowering drugs were analysed across 280 Swedish patients for over a year. The drugs happened to be tested one after another at several different times during the study. The treatment effect varied to a significant extent for each participant. Professor of Epidemiology at Uppsala University who is also a cardiologist, Johan Sundstrom, the first author of the study, said that certain individuals achieved lower blood pressure from one medication than from another. He added that the effect of a medication change could be twice as big as the effect of doubling the dosage of the current line of drugs.
The classes of drugs for lowering the blood pressure happened to be a diuretic, a calcium channel blocker, an angiotensin receptor blocker, as well as an ACE inhibitor-
- Lisinopril
- Candesartan
- Hydrochlorothiazide
- Amlodipine
Interestingly, the study’s findings pose a challenge to the strategy that is recommended in the present treatment guidelines.
There were four blood groups that were equally favourable for all patients with high blood pressure.
It is well to note that more than two million Swedes are estimated to have high blood pressure, according to the research. That said, only a fifth of the population was found to control their blood pressure by way of drug therapy. Because of the variety of blood pressure drugs that are available on the market, patients are surely at risk of not getting the optimal drug for the first time. This can undoubtedly lead to poor blood pressure control as well as unnecessary side effects. Therefore, these personalised treatments go on to offer a potential solution.
According to Sundstrom, if they were to personalise each patient’s medication, they could indeed achieve better results and effects than if they were to choose one of the four drug groups randomly.
Notably, individualised treatment provided an extra 4.4 mm Hg in lower systolic blood pressure. Given the right drug for blood pressure, one can get better protection against future cardiovascular diseases in a faster way, said Sundstrom.
