First Data to Show Antihypertensive Therapy Prolongs Life

Fat, unfit people are more likely to be hypertensive than intended-size, fit people.

The first long-term data from a high-blood-pressure study, the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (SHEP), show that each month of chlorthalidone-based therapy was associated with approximately one day of extension in life, free from cardiovascular death.

"The main findings are that after 22 years of follow-up, when about 60% of the participants in SHEP were dead, we saw a prolonged life expectancy in those who took the active treatment for 4.5 years, and that is the first time this has been reported in studies of hypertension, because you have to wait a long time to find out differences in life expectancy," lead author Dr John B Kostis (UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ) told heartwire . "In hypertension trials, by the time everybody dies, the investigators have died," he added.

Imagine how much longer people would live if they did not develop hypertension and were not on meds.