Study gives heart patients new hope

NEW treatment for high blood pressure has shown lifesaving benefits for thousands of patients including a significant reduction in the risk of stroke and fatal heart attacks.

Results from the ASCOT study (Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial), published in the Lancet, found the new treatment regime cut the risk of stroke by 23% and the risk of heart attack by 24%.

Eoin O’Brien, Professor of Cardiovascular Pharmacology at Beaumont Hospital, where 531 patients took part in the study, said the results “demonstrated both control of blood pressure and reduction in risk of strokes, heart attacks and other related diseases, such as diabetes.”

The results of the study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology conference in Stockholm, found the combination of blood pressure drugs amlodipine and Coversyl (perindopril) significantly reduced the risk of death by any cause by 11%, cardiovascular death by 24% and stroke by 23%, in patients with high blood pressure, compared with the older and more commonly used treatment strategy of a beta-blocker and diuretic.

The study authors said the results “will have huge implications for the 700,000 Irish people who currently receive treatment for high blood pressure, and are set to change the way blood pressure is managed.”

Around half of Irish adults over 50 years of age have high blood pressure.