“Either Franza or Spain, as long as if magna”. This phrase, attributed a few centuries ago to Francesco Guicciardini, can somehow represent a metaphor for the therapy of hypertension, one of the main cardiovascular risk factors. The important thing, regardless of the treatment you take, is regularly take therapies, without “jumps” or “holidays”. And, above all, it is important to respect the doctor’s instructions, even in terms of the time of taking the pill. Whether it is “Franza”, that is the classic intake as soon as you wake up in the morning, or that it is “Spain”, with treatment to be taken in the evening hours, the result in terms of risk of heart attack, stroke or vascular death does not change. Because circadian rhythms don’t seem to affect this. To say this, going against some studies that suggested a greater benefit with the treatment administered in the evening, is the study TIMEpresented at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in progress in Barcelona.
Pressure, in women the accuracy of the measurement can be influenced by height
by Federico Mereta
A search on the net
The TIME study was developed to test whether evening administration of antihypertensive drugs improved more serious cardiovascular outcomes than taking morning care. The patients, all from the UK, registered on a website and were then divided into two groups: one took the drug (s) in the evening, the other in the morning. Then, on average for over 5 years, the rate of hospitalizations and deaths was observed through e-mails and databases. The survey examined over 21,000 hypertensive subjects, with an average age of 65.
There are no differences
Heart attack, stroke or death from vascular pathologies occurred during the observation period in 3.4% of patients undergoing treatment in the evening hours and in 3.7% in those who took the therapies in the morning. The principal researcher, Thomas MacDonald of the University of Dundee, comments: “TIME provides a definitive framework for answering the question of whether drugs to lower blood pressure should be taken in the morning or in the evening. Heart attack, stroke and vascular death were clearly found to have occurred in similar way, regardless of the time of administration “.
Heart door
Hypertension and more, the apps will (also) cure us
in collaboration with the Cardiology Network
Fundamental adherence
In short, those with high blood pressure must take antihypertensive drugs regularly, at a time of day that is most comfortable and minimizes unwanted effects. “Antihypertensive therapy today is based on drugs with a long half-life, which generally cover 24 hours – reports Massimo Volpe, president of the Italian Society for Cardiovascular Prevention – for this reason it is essential that hypertensive people rely on the doctor and follow the prescriptions exactly, to keep this risk factor for heart and arteries under control. “It should not be forgotten that hypertension is often requires the combined action of several drugs, especially if other risk factors such as hypercholesterolemia are present, and therapeutic strategies are also adapting to be more “patient-friendly”. “Currently about 75% of hypertensive subjects have need at least two drugs to keep blood pressure values within the desired limits – concludes Volpe. This is why it is necessary to help them to comply with the prescriptions also to favor the best adherence to treatments “.
Doesn’t the pressure go down? Attention (also) to the microbiota
by Federico Mereta
