According to a study published recently in the Robarts Research Institute in Canada, scientists appear to have developed a simplified and potentially much more effective method of treating high blood pressure.



The project leader, Dr Ross Feldman, a clinical pharmacologist, demonstrated through the study that more patients had their blood pressure lowered and actually to a greater extent when the healthcare practitioners or family doctors involved used a simplified treatment protocol rather than having to choose from the rather large (and growing) number of drugs available to treat the condition.

The other side effect of this particular study was that though the primary focus of the study was purely in relation to hypertension or high blood pressure it would appear from the initial results of this study that it could cause a massive change in the way healthcare practitioners and doctors treat a whole series of chronic conditions and diseases.

The trial, otherwise know as the Simplified Treatment Intervention To Control Hypertension (STITCH) trial was a programme that analyzed the results of the treatment of both the 2100 patients with high blood pressure spread over 45 family practices in Ontario in Canada.

What is it about high blood pressure that makes it a problem and when ignored so lethal?

Barring a definitive diagnosis, most sufferers of high blood pressure, that is to say usually 19 out of every 20, are tragically ignorant of their condition.

Quite often an apparently symptom less disorder, a diagnosis of high blood pressure can be missed for years and hence the morbid description "the silent killer".

If spotted there are a couple of signs that can be attributed to high blood pressure and if these are observed and with out apparent cause then they should not be left untreated.

These symptoms can include the following: Dizziness, Ringing in the Ears , Morning Headache , Depression .

Though the above can indicate high blood pressure it has to be emphasised that they might just as easily indicate other associate conditions.

What does high blood pressure mean?

Well, if we are to go back to basics then the body's major tissues and organs are supplied and fed with blood pumped to them from the heart via a network of hose like vessels called arteries.

In nine cases out of ten then the particular cause of high blood pressure is hard to identify and as such in these cases the high blood pressure is termed "Primary (Essential) High Blood Pressure".

In the majority of cases where the cause of the high blood pressure can be traced directly to one particular failing organ or cause then it is not uncommon for the associate problems to be treated successfully where this "Secondary High Blood Pressure" is not the direct cause of the associate high blood pressure.

In less than 10% of the incidences of high blood pressure diagnosed, the diagnosis falls into the category known as "Malignant Hypertension". Quite often this is discovered totally by accident and may be as a result of an associate test such as an eye test whereby the Optician can sometimes detect the condition by merely looking into a patients eye.

It would appear that from this month onwards that treatment of high blood pressure will soon never be the same again.