A recent study has found that the patients who are treated with blood pressure-lowering drugs are likely to experience better results and good improvements from a change of medication rather than doubling the dose of their current medication.
The study was conducted by the Uppsala University and was also published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). In the course of this study, around 280 patients were given four different blood pressure-lowering drugs for over a year.
“The effect of a change of medication can be twice as great as the effect of doubling the dose of the patient’s current medication. It was clear in our study that certain patients achieved lower blood pressure from one drug than from another. This effect is large enough to be clinically relevant,” said Johan Sundström, cardiologist and Professor of Epidemiology at Uppsala University, who was also the first author of the study.
It is found that most of the Swedes have the ability to develop high blood pressure sooner or later, and more than 2 million Swedes currently face the complications of high blood pressure. It is also shown that only a handful of the population, about a fifth of them have managed to bring their blood pressure under control with the help of drug therapy. Another study has also found that only half of them have a record of taking their blood pressure medication as intended.
Why changing the course of the medicines has proven to be more effective?
The question still remains, and there have been speculations about the fact. Researchers have wondered if this could be because of the potency and side effects of these drugs seem to differ from one individual to another. Considering the diversity of drugs available, a risk factor that comes into play is that whether the patients are receiving the right drug at the first attempt. And this in turn has resulted in relatively poor blood pressure lowering and any unnecessary side-effects of the medicines.
Course of the Study
The study conducted at Uppsala University aimed to investigate if there could be an optimal blood pressure drug for each individual, and therefore a potential of a personalize treatment.
The study involved about 280 patients.
All the patients tested four different drugs in a set order, though at several different times over a period of a year.
The researchers reached a conclusion that there had been different effects of the study which varied greatly from one individual to the other and it was very clear that the patients achieved lower blood pressure from one drug to another.
Sundström in a statement said, “If we personalize each patient’s medication, we can achieve a better effect than if we choose a drug from one of these four drug groups at random. Our study shows that given the right drug, the patient can lower their blood pressure and as a result can probably obtain better protection against future cardiovascular diseases more quickly.
