Lowering Blood Pressure Target May Lead To Lower Rates Of CV Events.

The CBS Evening News (11/9, story 9, 1:25, Pelley) reported that “a new study that says sharply lower blood pressure leads to significantly longer lives.” On ABC World News(11/9, story 8, 1:00, Muir), ABC’s Dr. Richard Besser reported, “The results were so startling, they stopped the study...early.”

In a 1,300-word article, the New York Times (11/10, Kolata, Subscription Publication) reports that investigators found that “among the 9,361 hypertension patients followed for an average of 3.2 years, there were 27 percent fewer deaths (155 compared with 210) and 38 percent fewer cases of heart failure (62 compared with 100) among patients who achieved the systolic pressure target of 120 than among those who achieved the current 140 target.” Altogether, “there was a 25 percent reduction — 243 compared with 319 — in people who had a heart attack, heart failure or stroke or died from heart disease, Dr. Paul K. Whelton, a principal investigator for the study, said.” The findings were presented at the American Heart Association meeting and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The AP (11/10, Marchione) reports that “too-low blood pressure, fainting episodes and more worrisome, kidney problems were 1 percent to 2 percent higher in the lower pressure group.” However, “falls that cause injury due to lightheadedness were not more common, as had been feared especially for older people.”

The Seattle Times (11/10, Aleccia) reports that “the study, dubbed the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial — or SPRINT — was stopped in September, nearly two years early, when it became clear that radically lowering blood pressure for many people older than 50 helped prevent heart attacks and other heart problems and deaths.”