NICE issues new hypertension guidelines

The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued new guidelines for the treatment of hypertension.

After considering data from new studies, cost effectiveness analyses and the effects of hypertension drugs on people of different ages and ethnicity, NICE concluded that the first treatment prescribed for hypertension patients under 55 should be an ACE inhibitor.

Additionally, it recommended that black patients of any age should be given either a calcium channel blocker or thiazide-type diuretics. Other patients aged over 55 should also be prescribed these treatments, the guidelines state.

NICE says it has not recommended beta-blockers because the evidence it examined said they perform less well than other types of drug, especially in elderly patients.

Professor Bryan Williams, member of the Guideline Development Group and professor of medicine at University Hospitals NHS Trust, Leicester, remarked: “This is a hugely important step for people with hypertension and the healthcare professionals who treat them.

“This new guidance has benefited from a rigorous evaluation of the evidence and has resulted in a simple, pragmatic and practical approach to treating blood pressure, one of the most important causes of premature death in the UK.”

“In addition, the recommendations have undergone a cost-effectiveness analysis which has reinforced the guidance. It is no longer a case of ‘can we afford to do it?’ but more, ‘can we afford not to do it!’,” he concluded.

The UK’s Blood Pressure Association says that one in three adults in the UK has high blood pressure. It is the number one cause of strokes and heart disease, but a third of people do not know it.

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