Cochrane review finds no proved benefit in drug treatment for patients with mild hypertension

Cochrane review finds no proved benefit in drug treatment for patients with mild hypertension

Por:  Jeanne Lenzer.  BMJ 2012;345:e5511.

Treating patients with stage 1 (mild) hypertension has no benefit, a Cochrane review of studies conducted in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States has found.
Data from four randomised controlled trials, involving 8912 patients with stage 1 hypertension (systolic blood pressure 140-159 mm Hg or diastolic 90-99 mm Hg, or both) and treated for four to five years, found that drug treatment did not reduce total mortality (risk ratio 0.85 (95% confidence interval 0.63 to 1.15)), coronary heart disease (1.12 (0.8 to 1.57), or stroke (0.51 (0.24 to 1.08)). Patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease were excluded from the study.