Everyone aged 55 and over should be taking drugs to lower their blood pressure, a London-based expert says.

Epidemiology
expert Professor Malcolm Law said blood pressure drugs cut the risk of
heart attack and stroke even for those with normal blood pressure.

His
conclusion, published in the British Medical Journal and backed by
other experts, is based on a review of 147 studies, involving 464,000
people.

However, the Stroke Association warned the drugs could have side-effects.

The research found most types of blood pressure drugs cut the risk
of heart attacks and heart failure by around a quarter and the risk of
stroke by about a third.

The studies looked at the effect on
two blood pressure measurements; systolic – the pressure when the heart
beats while pumping blood – and diastolic – the pressure when the heart
is at rest between beats.

The lowered risk estimates were based on lowering systolic blood pressure by 10mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure by 5mm Hg.

Widespread benefit

Professor
Law, an expert in epidemiology at the Wolfson Institute at Barts and
The London School of Medicine, said: "Beyond a certain age, we’re
saying everyone would benefit from taking drugs that lower blood
pressure.

"Beyond a certain age, we all have high blood pressure and we would all benefit from lowering it.

"What we call ‘normalblood pressure is actually high, and what we call high blood pressure is actually higher."

Professor
Law said the universal use of blood pressure drugs should be seen as
analogous to vaccinating the entire population in the event of a flu
pandemic.

There was no case for trying to assess who was a top priority, he said, when everybody was potentially at risk.

In
fact, Professor Law said giving everybody blood pressure drugs would
minimise the risk that people would be alarmed when told they needed to
take the medication.

Among those aged 65 living in England and
Wales, the risk of having a heart attack in the next 10 years is about
10% for men and 5% for women, he added.

In an accompanying
editorial, Richard McManus, from the University of Birmingham, and
Jonathan Mant, from the University of Cambridge, backed Professor Laws
call.

They said the findings supported the idea of giving
everyone over a certain age a "polypill" – a drug that would include a
statin to lower cholesterol as well as treatment for blood pressure.

Professor
Law is one of the pioneers of the polypill, which he says would be an
effective way to cut the number of heart attacks and strokes in the UK.

Caution

Joanne Murphy, of the Stroke Association,
said: "High blood pressure is the single biggest risk factor for stroke
and it is important that people take medication to combat this.

"Whilst
blood pressure medication is one of the safest and most studied
medications, they do have side-effects and should only be prescribed to
people who are at significant risk of stroke."

Mike Rich, of
the Blood Pressure Association, said: "Prevention is better than cure,
but there are other proven ways to prevent high blood pressure such as
healthy eating and regular exercise, which have other health benefits
too.

"There is a danger that these important lifestyle factors could be overlooked in favour of ‘popping a pill’."

Professor
Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said:
"Mass medication turns us all into patients and I don’t think its the
best approach.

"A far healthier way is for us to reduce our
risk and increase our wellbeing by consuming less salt and alcohol and
taking more regular exercise."