Bottom Line: Poorly controlled high blood pressure is a leading global public health problem requiring new treatment strategies. In most instances, inadequate blood pressure treatment can be mainly attributed to use of one medication, which has modest effectiveness. In a randomized clinical trial that included 700 patients in Sri Lanka with mild to moderate high blood pressure who were not receiving treatment or who were taking one medication, the daily use of a pill that contained low doses of three antihypertensive drugs for six months resulted in a greater percentage of patients achieving their target blood pressure goal.
Authors: Ruth Webster, Ph.D., The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, and coauthors
Visual Abstract: This is the link to the abstract when the embargo lifts.
Related material:
-- The editorial, "Low-Dose Combination Blood Pressure Pharmacotherapy to Improve Treatment Effectiveness, Safety, and Efficiency" by Mark D. Huffman, M.D., M.P.H., Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, and coauthors is also available on the For The Media website.
-- A summary video is available for download or to embed on your website. Download the video as a high-quality MP4 file by clicking on this link and then right-clicking and selecting "save video as." In addition, you may copy and paste the html code below to embed the video on your website.
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To Learn More: The full study is available on the For The Media website.
(doi:10.1001/jama.2018.10359)
Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
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Journal
JAMA