Treatment of hypertension prolongs life expectancy

Hypertension Treatment prolongs life expectancy in the long term, according to a clinical test in the United States whose results were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

The anti-hypertensives had already shown their ability to reduce cardiovascular events in different studies but there was no previously data on gains in life expectancy, say the authors of this research.

The clinical test was conducted for four and a half years from March 1985 to January 1988, with 4736 participants aged 60 years all of them had hypertension. Half of the group was treated with antihypertensive chlorthalidone and half with placebo.
At the end of the test, doctors have recommended that all participants taking medication against hypertension. At the end of follow-up period, 60.2% of participants, 2,851 people had died.

But the researchers found that the subjects during the four and a half years of the test against hypertension generally lived longer than the control group. The gain in life expectancy is 158 days for those who died of heart attack and 105 days for participants who died of all causes of death.

Thus the gain in life expectancy for those who died following a heart disease is about one day per month of treatment against hypertension. This study was conducted by Dr. John Kostis, Faculty of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson in New Brunswick

Are you sure that you follow you are following your treatment the right way?

Answer to these questions yes or no :

1. This morning, did you forget to take your treatment?
2. Since the last visit to your doctor , have you run out of medication?
3. Have you ever taken your treatment late?
4. Have you happened not to take your medicine because you forget it ?
5. Have you happened not to take your medicine because you feel that your treatment will do more harm than good?
6. Do you think you have too many pills to take?

If you answer 3 times “yes,” It means that your antihypertensive therapy is probably bad.

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