High Blood Pressure May Sometimes Be Overtreated: Study | WPN World People News

Lower is not necessarily better when it comes to treating high blood pressure, researchers report.

It appears that reducing systolic blood pressure below 120 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury) provides no additional benefits for people with high blood pressure, according to new findings from a two-decades-long study of heart disease risk.

This could mean fewer medications for people who have gotten their high blood pressure within the "normal" range of 120 to 139, said expert.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure increases your risk of heart failure, stroke and heart attack. About one in three Americans has high blood pressure, and only half of those have their condition under control, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Systolic pressure is the top number in a standard blood pressure reading -- for example, 120/80 -- and represents the pressure in the arteries when the heart muscle contracts. The bottom number, diastolic pressure, represents pressure in the arteries between heartbeats.

Up till now, many heart doctors have tackled high blood pressure by trying to get a patient's blood pressure as low as possible through drugs and lifestyle modifications such as diet and exercise, said expert.

Previous studies have shown a progressive increase in heart disease risk as systolic blood pressure rose above 115, the researchers said. But it was not known whether systolic pressure below 120 in patients with high blood pressure lowered their risk of stroke or heart attack.

To test this, researchers followed 4,480 people for about 22 years, tracking their blood pressure and monitoring their heart health. Participants were an average age of 55 at the start of the study, and more than two of every five had high blood pressure.

The results confirmed that people with high blood pressure have a greater risk of heart attack or stroke, and that the risk increases as blood pressure rises.

For example, people with systolic pressure between 140 to 159 had a 16 percent greater risk of a heart problem, while people with systolic pressure 160 or higher had a 73 percent increased risk of heart attack or stroke, the researchers reported.

But the researchers also found that once systolic pressure drops lower than the 120 to 139 category, driving that number even lower did not improve patients' heart health.

It appears that the optimal blood pressure range for people with high blood pressure is 120 to 139 systolic, expert said.

A large-scale clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health is currently under way that will test these new findings.

If these findings are verified, they could lead to a change in the way doctors prescribe blood pressure medication, expert said.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services