Many more elderly people could benefit from drugs to prevent heart disease

Current guidelines advise drug treatment up to age of 75

2012-07-13

(Press-News.org) Research: Impact of age and sex on primary preventative treatment for cardiovascular disease in the West Midlands, UK: cross sectional study.

More patients aged 75 and over should be prescribed drugs to help lower their risk of cardiovascular disease, a study published today on bmj.com suggests.

The researchers argue that older people are being "largely ignored" by current guidance, yet as the population ages, greater use of these drugs could reduce disability and prolong healthy life expectancy.

Cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, heart attack and heart failure are the principal cause of death in the UK and around the world. Drugs that help to lower blood pressure (antihypertensives) and cholesterol levels (statins) are safe and effective, yet current guidelines for preventing cardiovascular disease focus only on people aged 40-74 years.

Previous studies focusing on patients with existing cardiovascular disease have also found that patients are less likely to receive preventative treatment the older they get, despite the fact that the risk of developing cardiovascular disease increases with age.

So a team of researchers from the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford studied 36,679 patients aged 40 and over from 19 general practices in the West Midlands, to establish whether age and sex impact on prescriptions for antihypertensives and statins. None of the patients had a history of cardiovascular disease at the start of the study.

Results show that the likelihood of using antihypertensive medication increased with every five years but started to decline after the age of 85. Patients aged 75 and over had the highest use overall (56%) and women were 10% more likely to be taking antihypertensives than men.

The likelihood of using statin medication also increased with every five years but decreased with every five years after the age of 75, although 23% of all patients aged 75 and over were taking statins. Those aged 70-74 had the highest use. Women aged between 65-69 and 75-79 were 5% more likely to be issued a prescription than men whilst men under the age of 60 were more likely to be issued a prescription.

A 2008 study has shown that antihypertensive treatment in those over 80 can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The evidence for statin treatment in the elderly is less clear because trials have not been conducted in this population, but the authors say that there is no evidence to suggest that prescribing statins in elderly patients causes any harm.

The authors conclude that the older population should not be ignored when prescribing drugs to prevent cardiovascular disease. They suggest that guidelines should be modified and future research should look at the use of statin therapy in people aged 80 or more and that treating those aged 75 and over with these drugs "could be an appropriate place to start".

###This press release presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Research (NIHR) through a Stroke Prevention Programme Grant and the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care for Birmingham and Black Country. The views are not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Diagnostic tool could help in the clinical diagnosis of cattle diseases in sub-Saharan Africa

2012-07-13

Diagnosis is key to the control and prevention of endemic livestock diseases in developing regions. New research has found the use of a low-cost diagnostic decision support tool could lead to the improvement in clinical practice by veterinary and animal health officers in sub-Saharan Africa. An international team, led by Professor Mark Eisler, Chair in Global Farm Animal Health in the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol, evaluated the effectiveness of a low-cost decision support tool as a diagnostic aid by observing whether its introduction to ...

The Clovis First Theory is put to rest at Paisley Caves

2012-07-13

Who were the first humans to enter the North American continent? Were they humans who founded what is known as the Clovis culture over 13,000 years ago? Or did other, totally unrelated peoples precede the Clovis immigrants? This issue has been intensely, if not bitterly debated for decades. The Clovis culture has been seen as the cradle of North American indigenous culture. Now new international research shows that people of another culture and technology were present concurrently or even previous to those of Clovis. Scientists have added a new and dramatic chapter to the ...

Winemaking goes high-tech at the University of British Columbia

2012-07-13

VANCOUVER, B.C. – July 11, 2012 – For centuries, people made wine by stomping grapes with their bare feet. But now, the art of winemaking is going high-tech at The University of British Columbia's Wine Research Centre. Have you ever gotten a headache or a rash from a single glass of wine? Has one glass of Merlot or Shiraz resulted in a painful hangover? If yes, you may be one of the 30 percent of people who are allergic to compounds that are in some of the world's most popular wines. A team of researchers at UBC's Wine Research Centre – which has received funding from ...

Protecting the hearts of those waiting for kidney and liver transplants

2012-07-13

As thousands of Americans await a life-saving kidney or liver transplant, medical teams are paying close attention to another organ: their hearts. This month the American Heart Association attempts to bring harmony to the varied cardiac evaluation policies created at U.S. hospitals that assess a patient's overall health before transplant surgery. Approximately 85,000 people are on the waiting list for a kidney transplant and 16,000 are waiting for a liver. It's not unusual for these transplant candidates to be well over age 50 and at increased risk for heart disease. The ...

Peering into the heart of a supernova

2012-07-13

PASADENA, Calif.—Each century, about two massive stars in our own galaxy explode, producing magnificent supernovae. These stellar explosions send fundamental, uncharged particles called neutrinos streaming our way and generate ripples called gravitational waves in the fabric of space-time. Scientists are waiting for the neutrinos and gravitational waves from about 1000 supernovae that have already exploded at distant locations in the Milky Way to reach us. Here on Earth, large, sensitive neutrino and gravitational-wave detectors have the ability to detect these respective ...

Our coral reefs: In trouble - but tougher than we thought

2012-07-13

Coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Great Barrier Reef, recover faster from major stresses than their Caribbean counterparts, leading marine scientists said today. Dr George Roff and Professor Peter Mumby from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland told the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns that coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific Ocean are naturally tougher than the Caribbean reefs. "The main reason that Indo-Pacific reefs are more resilient is they have less seaweed than the Caribbean Sea," ...

Collagenase for Dupuytren's contracture: Added benefit not proven

2012-07-13

Collagenase extracted from Clostridium histolyticum (trade name: Xiapex®) was approved in the beginning of 2011 for the treatment of people with Dupuytren's contracture. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the "Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products" (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether collagenase offers an added benefit in comparison with conventional regimens. However, such an added benefit cannot be inferred from the dossier, as the drug manufacturer presented either no data or unsuitable ...

Multiple sclerosis: New marker could improve diagnosis

2012-07-13

For the first time, scientists in Germany's multiple sclerosis competence network have been able to identify an antibody that bonds with the potassium channel KIR4.1. "We found this autoantibody in almost half of the MS patients in our study," explains Bernhard Hemmer, Professor of Neurology at the Klinikum rechts der Isar hospital at Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM). The biomarker was not present in healthy patients. The findings could therefore indicate that KIR4.1 is one of the targets of the autoimmune response in MS. Humans and animals without the KIR4.1 channel ...

Controlling your computer with your eyes

2012-07-13

Millions of people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's, muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injuries or amputees could soon interact with their computers and surroundings using just their eyes, thanks to a new device that costs less than £40. Composed from off-the-shelf materials, the new device can work out exactly where a person is looking by tracking their eye movements, allowing them to control a cursor on a screen just like a normal computer mouse. The technology comprises an eye-tracking device and "smart" software that have been presented today, Friday ...

Current and former smokers at risk for recurrent hepatitis post-liver transplantation

2012-07-13

Transplant recipients who smoke or have smoked increase their risk of viral hepatitis reinfection following liver transplantation according to new research available in the July issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Findings suggest that tobacco in cigarettes may adversely affect immune system response in patients transplanted for viral hepatitis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tobacco use causes more than five million deaths per year worldwide, ...

Many more elderly people could benefit from drugs to prevent heart disease

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: