Aiming for blood pressure targets lower than 140/90 mmHg is not beneficial says Cochrane Review

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Monday, July 18, 2016 3:17 pm Email this article

“Aiming for blood pressure targets lower than 140/90 mmHg is not beneficial,” concludes a 2009 review by the Cochrane Collaboration.

“Using more drugs in the lower target groups did achieve modestly lower blood pressures, however, this strategy did not prolong survival or reduce stroke, heart attack, heart failure or kidney failure.”

“More trials are needed, but at present there is no evidence to support aiming for a blood pressure target lower than 140/90 mmHg in any hypertensive patient.”

“[High blood pressure] has been defined as any number larger than 140 to 160 /90 to 100 mmHg and as a result this range of BPs has become the standard blood pressure target for physicians and patients.

“Over the last five years a trend toward lower targets has been recommended by hypertension experts who set treatment guidelines.

They analyzed data from seven (7) trials involving over 22,000 people.

[Hobbs: This trend towards lower cutoffs for not only blood pressure, but also cholesterol and blood sugar, is because the guidelines are written by people with financial ties to drug companies who want to scare more people into taking drugs so the drug companies can make more money.]

Reference

Arguedas JA, Perez MI, and Wright JM. Treatment blood pressure targets for hypertension. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2009; (3): CD004349.

Author’s Contact Info

Depto de Farmacologia Clinica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro de Montes de Oca, Costa Rica.

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Blood Pressure

• Blood Pressure Drugs

• Cochrane Collaboration