According to a recent study, it doesn’t seem to matter when you take your blood pressure medicine during the day or at night.
The protection against heart attack, stroke, and vascular death is unaffected by whether the medications are taken in the morning or the evening, according to the findings of a randomised trial involving more than 21,000 high blood pressure patients who were monitored for more than five years.
These results go against earlier studies that claimed taking the drugs at night provided a significant advantage.
Men and women were randomly assigned to take their blood pressure medications in the morning or the evening for the purpose of the study. When a heart attack, stroke, or death from cardiovascular illness occurred, the researchers searched for hospitalisation for those events.
Over a median of five years, hospitalisation for heart attack, stroke, or death from cardiovascular disease occurred in 3.4% of people who took their prescription at night and 3.7% of those who took it in the morning.
The results were announced on Friday at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual meeting in Barcelona. Up until it is published in a peer-reviewed publication, research presented at medical gatherings is regarded as preliminary.
According to researcher Thomas MacDonald, a research professor at the University of Dundee in Scotland, the study “was one of the largest cardiovascular studies ever conducted and provides a definitive answer on the question of whether blood pressure-lowering medications should be taken in the morning or evening.”
In a meeting news release, MacDonald stated that the trial “clearly revealed that heart attack, stroke, and vascular mortality occurred to a same degree, independent of the time of administration.” Antihypertensive drugs should be taken regularly by people with high blood pressure at a time of day that is convenient for them and minimises any negative side effects.
More information
Visit the American Heart Association for additional information on high blood pressure.
SOURCE: News release, European Society of Cardiology, August 26, 2022
