Two big studies offer good news to people with high blood pressure, finding that novel ways to use cheap drugs already on the market can lower their risk of heart attacks, stroke and death — even if they are very old.
Doctors presented results Monday at an American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago.
More than 70 million Americans have high blood pressure. Guidelines advise starting on one medication, usually a "water pill," and adding others as needed.
Dr. Kenneth Jamerson of the University of Michigan led a study of 11,462 people that tested a single daily pill combining a diuretic and the ACE inhibitor benazepril versus a daily pill containing benazepril and a calcium channel blocker, amlodipine.
ACE-calcium blocker combo patients had about 15 percent fewer heart-related problems or strokes, Jamerson said.
The study was paid for by Novartis, which sells Lotrel, the combo that proved better; Jamerson consults for the firm.
The second study, led by British researchers, found dramatic benefits for treating people in their 80s, an age when blood-pressure drugs were not known to be safe or effective.
Treatment with one or two inexpensive, well-tolerated drugs sharply reduced the number of heart attacks and strokes and produced a 21 percent drop in overall mortality.
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