Now, at last, deliverance has been achieved with the ruling of a medical guidelines committee that's spent five years reviewing the evidence. The committee, composed of 17 academics, was tasked with updating guidelines last formulated a decade ago. Their report was published online on Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The committee concluded that the goal for people over 60 should be a systolic pressure of less than 150. And the diastolic goal should remain less than 90.
This is both reasonable and attainable, without overdosing on too many BP meds, which can often conflict with other meds and cause no end of problems. Also, Dr. Suzanne Oparil- co-chairwoman of the committee and director of the vascular biology and hypertension program at the
Dr. Oparil added:
"The mantra of blood pressure experts in the past has been
that lower is better. Recent studies don’t seem to support
that.”
For example, two Japanese studies in older people found that those who reduced their systolic pressure to less than 140 fared no better than those who reduced it to between 140 and 160, or between 140 and 149. Dr. Paul A. James, chairman of the department of family medicine at the
"We have this notion that if we can get blood pressure to
normal, we will have the most health benefits,” Dr. James said. “That’s not
necessarily true.”
But isn't that a template for the way the medical groups operate? They are always about higher "standards" - whether measuring obesity according to BMI, or using PSA to generate ever more tests, treatments - or cholesterol levels to justify more use of statins. The be -all and end -all is not really patient health but more moola for the medical industrial complex, whether its PhrMa arm or the surgery - treatment arm. No wonder so many Americans are going bankrupt.
For people younger than 60, the goal remains blood
pressure under 140/90. But the committee decided to keep that target because it
could not find rigorous studies that established systolic blood pressure goals
for younger people. This is both rational and practical.
Naturally, some experts not on the committee claim that the blood
pressure guidelines are based on limited science —since studies did not specifically
test the effects of getting blood pressure below 140/90 — but that this does
not mean that goal should be abandoned.
True, but think of the much higher medical drug costs that
could be saved if it is! Also, if Big PhRma and its medical mavens (often receiving kickbacks, perks) for pushing meds on assorted "at risk" patients is really invested in healthier
people instead of profits, let them offer the same deal with prescription meds
that they give the VA – and let Medicare bargain for lowest costs.
Though true, it may be less expensive now to treat the high BP disorder,
Dr. James' point remains most salient: the drugs do have risks, and for some people it may be better to take fewer drugs or lower doses. Many older people have a variety of chronic illnesses and take multiple medications, which can interact and potentially cause harm.
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