Adherence To Blood Pressure Medications Promote Longevity Even Amongst Frailest Elderly

Blood pressure medications taken as prescribed helped even the frailest elderly population (65 years and above) live longer, and the healthiest older individuals an even better survival boost, claimed a new study.

Drugs that are intended to reduce elevated blood pressure levels are protective in general among the elderly. But the experts at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan, Itlay have focused on determining if these drugs were effective in frail patients with several other underlying health conditions as well.

The Study:

The research team reviews data on nearly 1.3 million individuals in the age group between 65 and older residing in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. The study participants were taking 3 or more blood pressure-lowering drugs between 2011 and 2012.

Upon examining the public health care database, they calculated the percentage of time over the next seven years, or until death that each of them continued to take those drugs.

Since almost all medications are either free or low-cost and dispensed by public health services in Italy, people’s adherence to using these medications were focused on.

The researchers compared about 255,000 individuals who died during the 7-year follow-up with age-, health-status- and gender-matched controls and categorized them into four groups based on health status namely- good, medium, poor or very poor.

Key findings:

• Compared to individuals with very low adherence to blood pressure medications, those with high adherence to these drugs were 44% less likely to die if they started in good health
• And for those people with high adherence to BP medications, 33% were less likely to die if they started in very poor health
• Irrespective of what an individual’s initial health status was, the survival benefits were greatest in those who took blood pressure medication

“Our findings definitely suggest that even in very frail people, antihypertensive treatment reduces the risk of death; however, the benefits may be smaller in this group. Do your best to encourage and support patients to take their medications, because adherence is crucial to getting the benefits. Medications do nothing if people don't take them,” Giuseppe Mancia, M.D., lead researcher and professor emeritus at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan, Italy told MedicalXpress.