Researchers believe the earlier patients are prescribed treatments for lowering cholesterol and blood pressure the better
Death rates from heart disease and stroke could be significantly lowered by prescribing statins with blood pressure-lowering drugs, a study has found. The findings come from long term follow up data from the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial (ASCOT) and reveal that for patients with high blood pressure taking a calcium channel blocker-based treatment plus a statin, deaths from cardiovascular causes such as heart attack and stroke were lower than for those taking an alternative beta blocker-based treatment and who had not taken statins, more than a decade after the trial closed. According to the researchers, the findings, published today in The Lancet , further support the evidence that treating hypertensive patients with cholesteroland blood-pressure-lowering medications may have long term benefits for cardiovascular health, and that the earlier patients are prescribed the treatments the better. The ASCOT trial was set up to compare two separate treatments for high blood pressure, but was stopped early as certain treatment combinations were so effective at preventing heart attacks and strokes. But according to the researchers, their new analyses have shown a legacy effect benefiting patients more than a decade later. The authors highlight, however, that there is a period of more than 10 years following the end of the trial where they do not have full data available for treatments patients may have been taking or prescribed. The latest findings, from researchers at Imperial College London and Queen Mary University of London, were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich today.
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