It starts with the lifestyles. Weight control, attention to salt in the diet, regular physical activity, no smoking, fight against stress. If blood pressure values exceed the fateful level of 140-90 millimeters of mercury, or in any case even with different blood pressure levels if there are additional factors that can somehow worsen the cardiovascular risk profile, the doctor may recommend treatment with drugs. that reduce pressure. Up to this point, the path of the millions of hypertensive people living in Italy – considering that many do not even know they have high blood pressure values and therefore do not take the appropriate countermeasures together with the care provider – is clear.
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However, there is one element that should not be underestimated. You should always think about any other therapies you are taking, as they could adversely affect hypertension, making the situation worse, to the point that simply reducing or avoiding these medicines could even stop the treatment for high blood pressure.
To support it, data in hand (the information has always been reported by patients), is a research presented at the scientific conference of the American College of Cardiology, coordinated by John Vitarello of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. The expert warns: doctors must always check with hypertensive patients which drugs they are using for other reasons, considering that sometimes people also take non-prescription therapies for long periods, with possible impact on blood pressure.
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The study reports that antidepressants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (the classic NSAIDs) and cortisone derivatives to be taken orally used in rheumatic diseases, such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, could affect blood pressure. And they are very common, so much so that the former would be used by 9% of adults, the latter by 7% and two out of a hundred people would do chronic therapies for inflammatory diseases with oral cortisone.
“These are drugs we commonly take – both over-the-counter and prescription drugs – that can have the unintended side effect of raising blood pressure and could have negative effects on heart health,” Vitarello recalled. Above all, the survey shows that almost one in five people are at risk of taking treatments that make antihypertensive drugs less effective or that, if monitored, could even reduce the treatment for hypertension.
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The study examined the “self-reports”, a possible reason for the fragility of the research, of about 27,500 people who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (Nhanes), followed between 2009 and 2018. Just under half of the people ( almost equally divided between men and women) presented hypertension: the data relating to these subjects were compared with normotensive ones.
Among those with hypertension, 19% reported using one or more drugs that could potentially raise blood pressure. The problem of these drug “interactions” appears more significant in women (24% of treatments potentially influencing blood pressure values compared to 14% of men) and in the elderly. The first consideration, therefore, is to always speak with the doctor who follows us for hypertension if you are following other treatments, especially if not prescribed by the doctor. For the rest, the study points out the importance of a regular therapeutic “check” by the doctor to evaluate whether to replace any other drugs taken by the patient, which could have an impact on blood pressure.
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