Lower BP good for heart
The US Federal health officials have declared that blood pressure (BP) should be kept at a value lower than the current guidelines.
The study, called Sprint, found that if the systolic* BP was lowered to 120 instead of current guidelines of 140 mm Hg, the risk of heart attacks, heart failure and stroke reduced by one-third and their risk of death reduced by nearly a quarter. The same held true for people aged 60 and above.
‘The study provides potentially life saving information’, said Dr. Gary Gibbons, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, while announcing the decision. He said of the nearly 79 million adults in US one out of three have high BP, and half of those being treated for it have still a systolic BP that is greater than 140.
‘This study will shake up things’, said Dr. Michael Gaziano, professor of Medicine at Harvard. He anticipated it will have the same effect on peoples thinking about BP as studies of cholesterol lowering did when they showed that, contrary to what many had thought, the lower the better.
‘It is outstanding news’, said Dr. Mark Creager, president of American Heart Association and director of Heart and Vascular Centre at Darmouth-Hitchcock Medical Centre., further adding ‘it will serve as a road map and will save a significant amount of lives’.
Dr. Jackson Wright, a blood pressure expert at Case Western Reserve University and a study investigator said that if the guidelines were changed there will be further decrease of death rate from heart attacks and stroke.
* systolic blood pressure is the higher of the two blood pressure numbers and in the pressure on the blood vessels when the heart contracts.
Written by: Dr. Ajay Sati.
