Scientists found that sufferers have a greater probability of adhering to their medicine schedule if their physician increases the amount of one of the prescriptions they’re currently receiving, based on information from roughly 179,000 veterans over 65 who got care at VA medical centers over two years.
This has been a point of debate for since long as, in many cases, experts have to change medicines and their dosages as per the condition of the patient.
What’s Better When Blood Pressure Needs To Be Controlled: Is It Better To Take Another Drug Or Take More Of The Same?
However, in many cases, experts prefer to change the dose of a given medication, while in some cases, they prefer to change the medicines completely. However, they are yet not sure whether to go for the change of medicine or a higher dose of the same.
Researchers further discovered that both methods lower hypertension but that introducing an additional medicine had a marginal benefit over raising the amount of a current prescription, notwithstanding some individuals’ inability to stick to the additional drug.
Despite taking blood pressure medicine, about 34 million Americans nonetheless suffer hypertension that is too high. Recent research could assist them, and their physicians choose if to raise the amount of a current prescription or start taking a newer one to reduce their hypertension and reduce their chance of potential health complications.
The results, which were reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, are focused on individuals with systolic hypertension of more than 130 mm Hg at the start of the study.
Finally, the recent results, according to the scientists, could help doctors and patients who have hypertension while taking meds.
The scientists are enabled to observe similarities in medication and hypertension measurements over time by examining backward at VA and Medicaid information in what was essentially a naturalistic study.
Just at the beginning of the period of study, all of the participants were taking one hypertension drug at a dosage lower than the highest recommended by their doctors, and they had a therapy escalation, suggesting that their doctors considered they required more aggressive therapy.
“There’s increasing guidance on approaches to starting treatment in older adults, but less on to the next steps to intensify treatment, especially in an older and medically complex population that isn’t usually included in clinical trials of blood pressure medication,” she said.
“How can we increase medications safely in a population already taking many medications for hypertension and other conditions.”
“Treatment guidelines do suggest starting treatment with multiple medications, and clinicians are comfortable with an approach of ‘starting low and going slow’ in older patients,” said senior author Lillian Min, M.D., M.S.H.S. “But these results show that in older patients, we have further opportunity to tailor choices in intensifying drug therapy for hypertension, depending on the individual patient’s characteristics.”
Continuing, she said, “Is the patient more likely to stick to a simpler regimen? Then increase an existing medication. Or is the blood pressure very high, and the clinician is more concerned about reducing it? Then consider starting a new medication now.”
Min works as a specialist doctor at the VA Ann Arbor Health System Geriatric Studies Education and Clinical Center and the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative at Michigan Medicine, the university’s academic medical center.
That additional complication of needing to consume one further type of tablet is too much for elderly folks who currently use various drugs. According to Min, the dangers of psychotropic medications, or taking numerous drugs, are well-known based on previous studies. For several older persons who take multiple medications, Medicare advantage a yearly medicine with a physician.
