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12
Mar 2019
Thousands more to benefit from blood pressure drugs
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) have announced new guidelines on diagnosing high blood pressure, meaning that blood pressure-lowering drugs will be offered to more people with stage-1 hypertension, which health bosses say will help to reduce heart attacks and strokes.
Because of the new guidelines, around 450,000 men and 270,000 women could now qualify for the drugs.
However, concerns have been expressed by some GPs, who say the benefits could be limited due to over-diagnosis, adding that lifestyle factors, such as diet, exercise and weight control all had a crucial role in bringing down blood pressure.
Currently, patients with high blood pressure are only offered treatment if they have a 20 per cent or higher risk of cardiovascular disease and are aged under 80. The new guidelines recommend that the threshold be increased so that those with a 10 per cent will now qualify.
Chair of the NICE guideline committee, Anthony Wierzbicki, said the condition was “by far the biggest preventable cause of death and disability in the UK through strokes, heart attacks and heart failure.
“A rigorous evaluation of new evidence has resulted in updated recommendations around when to treat raised blood pressure that have the potential to make a real difference to the lives of many thousands of people with the condition.”
Chair of the Royal College of GPs Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, said the decision to lower the threshold “must not be taken lightly and must be evidence-based.
“GPs are highly trained to prescribe taking into account the guidelines but also the circumstances of the individual patient sitting in front of them, including physical, physiological and social factors that might be affecting their health.”
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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.
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