Australian scientists report that dialysis patients experience an almost one-third reduction in the risk of heart disease-related events, including death, if they are treated with blood pressure-lowering medications, according to a review published online February 25, 2009 in the Lancet .

Patients undergoing dialysis have a substantially increased risk of cardiovascular events and death. Although several trials have shown the heart-related benefits of lowering blood pressure in the general population, the benefits in patients on dialysis have not been confirmed. The researchers performed a systematic review of eight relevant clinical trials involving a total of 1679 patients. They found that dialysis patients who were treated with blood pressure medications had lower blood pressure, as well as a lower risk of cardiovascular events, cardiovascular death, and overall death.

From their review, the investigators concluded that treatment with blood pressure-lowering agents should be routinely considered for all patients undergoing dialysis. They calculated that broad application of this recommendation could potentially prevent two of the 10 deaths expected to occur in every 100 dialysis patients each year.

Source

The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 26 February 2009.