Most men over the age of 50 must take medication for high blood pressure



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MResearch suggests that most men over the age of 50 and women over the age of 60 should take medication to fight high blood pressure.

The Lancet study suggests that about a third of heart attacks and additional strokes could be prevented in the UK if more patients were prescribed such treatments.

Currently, medications are recommended based on the patient's blood pressure.

But the new study suggests that all patients eligible for statins should automatically be offered antihypertensive drugs, even if their readings are normal.

The results suggest that anyone with a 10% risk of heart disease over the next decade should be offered drugs at 5p per day.

According to these criteria, age alone would qualify most men over 50 and women over 60.

The study conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine on 1.2 million patients compared different methods of badessing patients.

According to the current criteria used by the NHS, about 6.5 million people are eligible for treatment against hypertension, which costs only a few cents. The study found that if all were treated for 10 years, it would prevent 233,152 heart attacks and strokes.

A change in strategy – recommending drugs to all people currently eligible for statins, would mean that 8.6 million people would be eligible, the study revealed.

After a decade, an additional 89,796 strokes could be avoided – another third, researchers found.

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence will issue new guidelines next month, which means that nearly 8 million people are eligible for such drugs.

But research suggests that new guidelines – which broaden the criteria, but still restrict drugs to those with high blood pressure – will not prevent as many heart attacks and strokes. .

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