
High blood pressure can be a killer. But a new study finds that more than half of younger patients — those under 65 — who are prescribed high blood pressure meds either stop taking them within a few months or don’t take them as prescribed. But stopping treatment can prove dangerous, even for the relatively young, the study’s lead author warned. “Blood flow is a physical action. Your vessels are being slammed by waves of blood every time your heart pumps,” explained Gabriel Tajeu. He’s assistant professor of health services administration and policy at Temple University in Philadelphia. “That’s why the younger population is important,” he said in a Temple news release. “Somebody may have blood pressure that is a bit high, but they have been exposed to it for 10, 20 years, causing a lot of damage to their vascular system.” About 100 million U.S. adults have high blood pressure, and the number is rising. In the new study, Tajeu’s group tracked the rate of prescription refills for blood pressure medications issued to more than 370,000 patients younger than 65. All of the patients had private insurance. The researchers found that 23.5% of the patients stopped taking the drugs within the first nine months. And of those who kept using the medications, 40% had “low adherence” — taking the prescribed amount less than 80%… read on >