UK hails blood pressure findings
Source: Agencies |
August 25, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TAKING repeated blood pressure readings over a 24-hour period rather than a one-off measurement in the clinic is the most cost-effective way of deciding who should be prescribed drugs for hypertension, according to a study published yesterday.
The findings in favor of so-called ambulatory blood pressure monitoring were immediately adopted by the UK's health costs watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, in new guidelines on how to diagnose and when to treat high blood pressure.
Bryan Williams, a professor of medicine at Leicester University and chairman of the NICE guideline development group, said the change would affect the treatment of millions of people and was "a step-change likely to be replicated across the world."
Richard McManus, of Birmingham University, who led the study published in The Lancet medical journal which prompted the guideline change, said: "Ambulatory monitoring allows better targeting of blood pressure treatment. It is cost-saving in the long term as well as more effective."
About 1 billion people worldwide have high blood pressure, a major risk factor in cardiovascular disease.
The findings in favor of so-called ambulatory blood pressure monitoring were immediately adopted by the UK's health costs watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, in new guidelines on how to diagnose and when to treat high blood pressure.
Bryan Williams, a professor of medicine at Leicester University and chairman of the NICE guideline development group, said the change would affect the treatment of millions of people and was "a step-change likely to be replicated across the world."
Richard McManus, of Birmingham University, who led the study published in The Lancet medical journal which prompted the guideline change, said: "Ambulatory monitoring allows better targeting of blood pressure treatment. It is cost-saving in the long term as well as more effective."
About 1 billion people worldwide have high blood pressure, a major risk factor in cardiovascular disease.
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