We know that controlling BP to 130 mm Hg instead of 140 in diabetic patients significantly reduces the risk for heart attacks. A group in Italy studied non-diabetic patients with hypertension to see if they could get similar results. They did reduce the incidence of Left ventricular enlargement by about half (from 9% to 5%). Because they needed to use more drugs to accomplish this improvement, the incidence of heart attack, heart failure, stroke and death were the same in both groups. Since the study was funded by a major drug company, they did not state the obvious conclusion, that yes we should lower the blood pressure more than we do now, but we need to use non-drug methods to do so. When will we ever learn?
See Family Practice News (click here), September 1, 2009, p. 15.
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