Lowering blood pressure could save 1.3 million Canadians

Traditionally, the limit of systolic pressure – the maximum pressure exerted by the heart – was 140 for patients over 50 years old with a risk of heart complications.

This means that according to this figure, anyone should receive treatment, usually drugs, with the intention of reducing the indicator to a safer level.

But in 2016, the agency Hypertension Canada changed its guidelines to recommend that this number be placed at 120.

American found that lowering the systolic band could reduce deaths from 27 per cent among adults at high risk of heart disease, but without diabetes, stroke By the way, the Canadian Journal of Cardiology recently published a study by the University of Calgary that 1.3 million Canadians would be affected by the new directive, and 14% Of the four million Canadians who are more than five decades old and receiving treatment, almost 19 per cent 100, or 754,400 people, could benefit from a

high blood pressure is known to be the leading risk factor for heart disease, which is also the leading cause of death in Canada, according to the 39, author of the study. study, Alex Leung, endocrinologist at the Alberta Health Service and professor at the University of Calgary

Reduce levels to consider the treatment of hypertension. He has not only affected patients' clinical outcomes, but also general health care policies and the use of resources in the health system, he said.

However, Leung clarified that the guidelines have changed in 2016 It may take years before physicians and other health professionals adopt these suggestions, which will require a concerted and persistent effort.

rgh / lr