BMJ  2006;332 (18 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7542.0

Blood pressure drop in MONICA populations is not from use of antihypertensives

The declining blood pressures seen in many industrialised countries are not attributable to use of antihypertensive drugs. Tunstall-Pedoe and colleagues (p 629) pooled the results from the MONICA project (which monitored cardiovascular disease in 38 populations in 21 industrialised countries from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s) to examine patterns in the blood pressure declines that had been reported in most populations. The changes in blood pressure were not due to declines in high readings only, which would be attributable to better hypertension control in that group; instead, blood pressure fell similarly in groups with low, middle, and high blood pressure.

Credit: SHEILA TERRY/SPL

 

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Relevant Article

Pattern of declining blood pressure across replicate population surveys of the WHO MONICA project, mid-1980s to mid-1990s, and the role of medication

Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe, John Connaghan, Mark Woodward, Hanna Tolonen, and Kari Kuulasmaa
BMJ 2006 332: 629-635. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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