[ad_1]
For more information, contact us at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWyHyHowIs&lang=en
Drug-resistant hypertension appears to be caused when the blood pressure remains above normal after the patient. High blood pressure is a well-known risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease and other chronic conditions.
The new study, reported Saturday at the American Heart Association Hypertension Association 2018 Scientific Sessions in Chicago, used a simple, inexpensive intervention to the truthfully resistant patients: Watch them actually take their pills.
It's called a "direct observational therapy" approach, said Dr. Swapnil Hiremath, one of the study's researchers and associate professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa in Canada. A group of 48 patients with high blood pressure who said they were taking their medications-claims back by drugstore records in the clinic, where health care providers watched their blood pressure medications. Patients' blood pressure levels were monitored until the medications took effect. And the patients were feeling at home with 24-hour wearable blood pressure monitors.
When patients came back into the clinic the next day, 10 of the 48 patients had blood pressure that had dropped below the target goal.
"That was all about us," Hiremath said.
Patients visited the clinic with more direct observation and additional patients.
The study did not look at why patients were not taking their pills, but Hiremath said common reasons for non-adherence include side effects and a lack of awareness of the need for medical care. Hiremath noted that's where high blood pressure gets its nickname: "Hence, 'the silent killer,'" he said.
Dr. Robert M. Carey, a professor of medicine at the University of Virginia, said that it was actually needed, said Dr. Robert M. Carey, a professor of medicine at the University of Virginia who helped write the latest high blood pressure guidelines from the AHA and American College of Cardiology.
He said the new findings confirm that other studies have shown how often patients with high blood pressure do not take their medications.
Uncontrolled blood pressure, additional tests and changes in drug treatment can be detrimental to patients 'health, time-consuming for providers and costly for health care, said Carey, adding that the ultimate solution is not going to be looking at patients' shoulders every day to make sure they're following doctor's orders.
Hiremath said, "What happens next is old-fashioned medicine: You sit down with the patient and figure out what's going on." Are they taking their medications, and if not, why not?
"What we're talking about is not rocket science," he said.
Explore further:
Monitoring at home yields better blood pressure control
Source link
