CHICAGO — Two big studies offer good news to people with high blood pressure, finding that novel ways to use cheap drugs already on the market can lower their risk of heart attacks, strokes and death — even if they are very old.
Both studies were stopped early so that the surprising benefits could be made known. Doctors presented results Monday at an American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago.
Dr. Kenneth Jamerson of the University of Michigan led a study testing a single daily pill combining the ACE inhibitor benazepril and a calcium channel blocker, amlodi pine. The study was stopped in October after it was clear that people on the ACE-calcium blocker combo were doing better than subjects using a different combination.
A second study found dramatic benefits for treating people in their 80s, an age when blood-pressure drugs were not known to be safe or effective.
