2023-10-15 08:30:49
It is estimated that one in five adults worldwide suffers from hypertension and the disease is responsible for 7.6 million deaths per year. The research is being conducted in the United States where more than 700,000 Americans die each year from high blood pressure. If left untreated, hypertension significantly increases the risk of premature death from heart attack, stroke or kidney disease.
Amlodipine is a drug widely prescribed to treat hypertension,
now taken regularly in pill form by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Amlodipine inhibits a type of calcium channel found in blood vessels. When the calcium channel opens, calcium enters the muscle and causes it to constrict, thereby increasing blood pressure. Amlodipine blocks calcium from entering, causing the vessels to relax and blood pressure to drop.
On questioning its benefits: some researchers have recently questioned the benefits of amlodipine in the treatment of hypertension. This concern follows studies, cited by the authors, suggesting that the drug may activate a different type of calcium channel, leading to changes in blood vessels and an increase in heart failure in patients. The withdrawal of amlodipine as a prescribed antihypertensive medication might have significant public health consequences, given the very high prevalence of hypertension.
The study reveals that taking amlodipine is unlikely to cause an increase in heart failure in patients. Researchers show that amlodipine appears to have unique chemical properties that cause the drug to mimic the activation of calcium channels, without actually opening the channels, as some clinicians had feared. Monitoring the chemical properties of amlodipine reveals that the drug does not activate calcium channels. A meta-analysis combining clinical trials and a prospective real-world analysis concluded that amlodipine was not associated with an increase in heart failure or other cardiovascular problems.
The withdrawal of amlodipine is not current: its withdrawal as a first-line treatment would most likely dramatically increase deaths from hypertension.
“The study recommends that amlodipine remains a first-line treatment for high blood pressure.”
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