Personalized Blood Pressure Treatment: A Game-Changer in Hypertension Management

Patients taking blood pressure medications may benefit far more from a medication change than from doubling the dose of their current medication. A new study from Uppsala University, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, demonstrates this. Over a year, 280 patients tested four different blood pressure-lowering drugs in this study. "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," says Johan Sundström, cardiologist and Professor of Epidemiology at Uppsala University, who is the first author of the study.

Exploring the Challenges of Managing High Blood Pressure in Swedes: Inefficacy and Side Effects of Medications

Most Swedes develop high blood pressure at some point; currently, more than two million Swedes have high blood pressure. Only one-fifth of them have been able to control their blood pressure with medication, and some studies indicate that only half of them take their blood pressure medication as prescribed.

Could this be because the efficacy and side effects of the drugs differ from person to person? Given the wide variety of blood pressure medications, there is a serious risk that patients will not receive the best drug on the first try, resulting in poor blood pressure control and unnecessary side effects.

Personalized Blood Pressure Treatment: Findings from Uppsala University Study

A new study at Uppsala University looked into whether there is an optimal blood pressure drug for each individual, and thus whether personalized blood pressure treatment is possible. There were 280 patients in the study. Over a year, each of these people tested four different blood pressure medications one after the other. The researchers discovered that the treatment's effect varied greatly from person to person and that certain patients achieved lower blood pressure from one drug rather than another.

The study's findings call into question the current treatment strategy, which recommends four drug groups equally warmly for all patients with high blood pressure.

"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 blood pressure drug, the patient can lower their blood pressure and as a result can probably obtain better protection against future cardiovascular diseases more quickly," Sundström says.

Source-Medindia