Lowering Heart Failure in Hypertensive Patients

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Having a "big heart" may be considered a good thing in some circles, but people with high blood pressure are better off if they keep their heart in the normal size range.

A new study reveals preventing or reducing a type of enlarged heart known as left ventricular hypertrophy, or LVH, cuts the risk of heart failure by 43 percent in people being treated for hypertension. Even after the researchers adjusted their findings to take other factors influencing the development of heart failure into account, keeping the heart normal-sized reduced the heart failure risk by 36 percent. The effect occurred despite blood pressure control or the type of medication used to lower blood pressure.

"The message for high-blood-pressure patients is that by preventing or reversing enlarged heart, there is an added benefit, over and above any reduction in blood pressure, of lowering risk for heart failure," study author Peter Okin, M.D., from New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, was quoted as saying. "And, from a public health perspective, our findings suggest that blood pressure therapy targeted at regression or prevention of LVH may help to blunt the increasing incidence of heart failure."

Researchers conducted this study among more than 8,000 hypertensive patients who did not have heart failure when the study began. During the research, 214 were hospitalized with the condition.

About 12 million hypertension patients in the United States have LVH and are at greater risk for developing heart failure, according to study authors. High blood pressure doubles the risk for heart failure in men and triples the risk in women.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, 2007;147:311-319

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