Combining smaller doses of hypertension meds could be more effective than the standard

Researchers from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, announced new findings that suggest smaller doses of a few blood pressure medications could be just as effective as standard doses of just one.

The study, published June 5 in Hypertension, was led by Anthony Rodgers, PhD, a professor at the George Institute for Global Health at the University of New South Wales. His study compared quarter-dose blood pressure therapy to standard doses and placebos.

The research included data from 42 trials involving more than 20,000 patients with high blood pressure who were taking various doses of medications and those were taking none. The main medications patients were prescribed included ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, beta blockers, calcium channel blocker and thiazides.

Results showed that two blood pressure medications combined was just as effective as one standard dose of one, and that four of them combined was nearly twice as effective as one standard dose. Additionally, side effects were about the same or less with the combined therapies.

“Widespread control of blood pressure is generally low, even in high-income countries,” Rodgers said in an American Heart Association statement. “Because high blood pressure is so common and serious, even small improvements in management can have a large impact on public health.”

Though the results are encouraging and could help change the way physicians prescribe blood pressure lowering drugs, Rodgers said there still isn’t enough research to prove that the combination method is totally beneficial.

“This new approach to treatment needs more research before it can be recommended more widely,” Rodgers said. “The findings have not yet been tested in large long-term trials. People should not reduce the doses of their current medications.”