(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Having a "big heart" may be
considered a good thing in some circles, but people with high blood pressure are
better off if they keep their heart in the normal size range.
A new study reveals preventing or reducing a type of enlarged heart known as
left ventricular hypertrophy, or LVH, cuts the risk of heart failure by 43
percent in people being treated for hypertension. Even after the researchers
adjusted their findings to take other factors influencing the development of
heart failure into account, keeping the heart normal-sized reduced the heart
failure risk by 36 percent. The effect occurred despite blood pressure control
or the type of medication used to lower blood pressure.
"The message for high-blood-pressure patients is that by preventing or reversing
enlarged heart, there is an added benefit, over and above any reduction in blood
pressure, of lowering risk for heart failure," study author Peter Okin, M.D.,
from New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, was quoted as saying.
"And, from a public health perspective, our findings suggest that blood pressure
therapy targeted at regression or prevention of LVH may help to blunt the
increasing incidence of heart failure."
Researchers conducted this study among more than 8,000 hypertensive patients who
did not have heart failure when the study began. During the research, 214 were
hospitalized with the condition.
About 12 million hypertension patients in the United States have LVH and are at
greater risk for developing heart failure, according to study authors. High
blood pressure doubles the risk for heart failure in men and triples the risk in
women.
SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, 2007;147:311-319
