New Guidelines for Blood Pressure Medication

Family doctors in the United Kingdom (UK) are being advised not to prescribe beta-blockers as the routine therapy for high blood pressure but to favor other treatments.

The new guidelines were issued by the National Health Service (NHS, London, UK) following advice from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE, London, UK) which noted that other drugs are better at treating hypertension. These include calcium channel blockers, diuretics, and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, used to regulate the hormonal system and open up blood vessels. The new guidelines are based on research showing that the newer drugs used to treat high blood pressure cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes by half when compared to older treatments.

For patients under 55, the guidelines recommend that the first medication choice should be an ACE inhibitor, followed by a calcium channel blocker or a diuretic, then all three. For patients over 55, or black patients, first choice should be a calcium channel blocker or diuretic, followed by an ACE inhibitor, and then all three if necessary. Beta-blockers should no longer be used for hypertension, except in patients who also need them for other reasons such as heart failure.

Currently, as many as two million people take beta-blockers in the United Kingdom, although patients who take the drugs for conditions such as angina and anxiety will be unaffected by the new guidelines.



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