Mystery of global blood-pressure fall
Lyndsay Moss
Scotsman
_______
London (UK):
Blood pressure levels worldwide are falling, despite soaring levels of obesity - but researchers are not sure why. A study involving 100,000 people, including populations in Glasgow and Belfast, looked at whether lower blood pressures were due to better drugs or people leading more healthy lifestyles.
The researchers concluded that the improvements could not be explained by medication, but the exact reasons remain unknown. The study, led by Professor Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe at the University of Dundee, focused on 38 populations in 21 countries. Blood pressures were measured in these populations during the mid-1980s and compared with another group from the same area again in the mid-1990s.
Prof Tunstall-Pedoe said the researchers found that blood pressure dropped at all levels . If drugs were responsible for the drop, the researchers would have expected levels to fall only in those with high blood pressure.
Mar 10, 2006
Lyndsay Moss
Scotsman
_______
London (UK):
Blood pressure levels worldwide are falling, despite soaring levels of obesity - but researchers are not sure why. A study involving 100,000 people, including populations in Glasgow and Belfast, looked at whether lower blood pressures were due to better drugs or people leading more healthy lifestyles.
The researchers concluded that the improvements could not be explained by medication, but the exact reasons remain unknown. The study, led by Professor Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe at the University of Dundee, focused on 38 populations in 21 countries. Blood pressures were measured in these populations during the mid-1980s and compared with another group from the same area again in the mid-1990s.
Prof Tunstall-Pedoe said the researchers found that blood pressure dropped at all levels . If drugs were responsible for the drop, the researchers would have expected levels to fall only in those with high blood pressure.
Mar 10, 2006
