Kidney transplant patients, who require maintenance dialysis, often have high blood pressure possibly because their failing kidneys fall short of accomplishing their normal role in regulating the blood pressure. These patients often succumb to cardiovascular reasons while awaiting dialysis, researchers explain.
The study, a meta-analysis of 8 previous trials, zeroed in on 1700 dialysis users around the world.
Of the range of antihypertensive medications including angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), ACE inhibitor, beta-blocker, and calcium-channel blocker available, patients were put on a blood pressure lowering pill.
Antihypertensive medications helped lower systolic (peak pressure in the arteries) blood pressure by 4.5 mm Hg and diastolic (minimum pressure in the arteries) blood pressure by 2.3 mm Hg.
A lower blood pressure also lowered the risk of cardiovascular events by 29 percent, researchers found. The overall mortality fell by 20 percent.
A total of 495 cardiovascular events were reported during the study span. Interestingly, these were the patients, who reaped significantly less benefit from blood pressure therapy, researchers noted.
"We found that blood pressure lowering significantly reduces the high death rate in patients on dialysis, preventing one in five deaths compared to people who did not receive the treatment" study’s lead author, Vlado Perkovic at the George Institute in Sydney wrote in the medical journal The Lancet.
"The benefits of lower blood pressure are very large. What we are talking about is giving them regular blood pressure lowering agents. Their blood pressure will be lowered and their risk of cardiovascular disease and death would be much, much less", he added.
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