Guideline alert for blood pressure patients as treatment combo fails

"Thousands of Canadians with high blood pressure (hypertension) are being treated with a drug combination that increases the risk of sudden cardiac death, kidney disease and the likelihood of dialysis, warns the Heart and Stroke Foundation. New guidelines from Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP) based on international research funded in part by the Foundation will urge patients who have been prescribed a combination of ACE inhibitors and Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers (ARBs) to see their family physicians as soon as possible for a treatment change. 'These two popular categories of hypertension medication are each safe and effective treatments – but not together,' says Dr. Sheldon Tobe, spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation and CHEP executive member. As many as 175,000 Canadians with high blood pressure may be currently treated with this combination of medications." - Heart and Stroke Foundation