Blood pressure medication does not cause more falls

Study on patients with type 2 diabetes examined fracture risk with antihypertensive treatment

2014-08-18

(Press-News.org) It's time to question the common belief that patients receiving intensive blood pressure treatment are prone to falling and breaking bones. A comprehensive study in people ages 40 to 79 with diabetes, led by Karen Margolis, MD, of HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research in the US, found no evidence supporting this belief. The study¹ appears in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer.

Evidence from various clinical trials shows that cardiovascular events such as strokes can be prevented by treating high blood pressure (hypertension). However, physicians and patients still often express concern that its tight control may increase a person's risk of low blood pressure (hypotension) and subsequent falls and fractures.

Scientific data to support this notion are sparse. Therefore, Margolis and her associates compared the number of falls and fractures of type 2 diabetes patients receiving two types of blood pressure treatment. The intensive group (which included 1,534 participants) received treatment aimed at a systolic blood pressure of END

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