Friday, January 21, 2011
What's new in hypertension with JNC 8 on the horizon?
If David Letterman were to make a Top Ten list called: "Things that Doctors do that Really Matter," treating hypertension would certainly make the cut. Hypertension is highly prevalent within our society, with about one in three U.S. adults affected. The relationship between blood pressure and cardiovascular risk is continuous and independent of other cardiovascular risk factors. Treatment of hypertension has been demonstrated to reduce risk of stroke by 35 to 40% and risk of myocardial infarction by 20 to 25%. If you are reading this thinking, "but I've always had low blood pressure," here's some cheerful news: 90% of adults who have normal blood pressure at age 55 will develop hypertension as they age. Thus, the detection and appropriate management of elevated blood pressure is one of the most important tasks in the practice of providing primary care to adult patients.
Those of us who treat hypertension hopefully have heard of the Joint National Committee (JNC) guidelines on hypertension. The latest set, "JNC 7," came out in 2003. Since 1978, when the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) formed its first multidisciplinary panel (JNC 1) to review the evidence and formulate its summary, these guidelines have been the major clinical practice rule set governing appropriate treatment of hypertension. It's been nearly a decade and JNC 8 is expected to be released in the spring of 2011.
Recently I had the pleasure of listening to a talk at the Georgia Chapter meeting of the American College of Cardiology by Dr. Keith Ferdinand, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology at Emory and Chief Science Officer of the Association of Black Cardiologists. Dr. Ferdinand, who has served on previous NHLBI JNC committees reviewed the last decade of data that is likely to impact the newest set of hypertension guidelines.
Some of my take home points from this talk are listed below:
Evidence supports the treatment of hypertension in octogenarians. Patients treated with indapamide (a diuretic) with or without perindopril (an ACE inhibitor) had 30% reduced risk of stroke and a 21% reduced risk of death from any cause.
The blood pressure treatment goal for diabetic patients may be revised, based on the ACCORD intensive blood pressure lowering trial, to less than 140/90 (currently less than 130/80). ACCORD found no cardiovascular benefit for the primary endpoint with more aggressive lowering of blood pressure (to less than 120 systolic versus less than 140 systolic) in high risk hypertensive diabetic patients.
ACCORD did find a small reduction in a secondary endpoint, total stroke and non-fatal stroke, in study participants treated to the more aggressive blood pressure goal. In addition the placebo group in ACCORD was noted to have on average relatively well controlled blood pressure.
The ONTARGET trials found that there is not good evidence to support either renal or cardiovascular benefit from the combined use of ace inhibitors with ARBs for high risk patients. These randomized controlled trials looked at ramipril, telmasartan, and their combined use with respect to renal and cardiovascular outcomes.
In refractory hypertensive patients, spironolactone 25 mg should be considered as an additional agent.
Amongst the class of thiazide diuretics there may be differences amongst agents and their prescribed dosages in terms of efficacy for cardiovascular risk reduction. The longer acting chlorthalidone may be more effective than the shorter acting hydrochlorothiazide. Some of the most widely cited studies providing evidence for the use of thiazides as first line treatment for hypertension are based on study of chlorthalidone or using higher doses of HCTZ (50 mg) than those normally prescribed.
The combination of ACE inhibitor (benazepril) and dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (amlodipine) may be superior to the ace inhibitor and diuretic (hydrochlorothiazide) combination for hypertension treatment (ACCOMPLISH).
Atenolol is falling out of favor, with a relative lack of evidence supporting its use as a first line therapy for hypertension. More attention is likely to be given to beta blocker selection on the basis of demonstrated cardiovascular outcomes (metoprolol, carvedilol) in JNC 8.
As a primary care physician I found it very useful to hear Dr. Ferdinand's opinion about what's to come with respect to JNC 8's hypertension guidelines. I already will be changing some of my practice based on this knowledge. I look forward to reading the guidelines and hearing the reaction of experts in the spring of 2011. It appears as though with hypertension, as with other fields of medicine, there will be a growing emphasis on specific drug and dose selection as opposed to class of drug selection.
Juliet K. Mavromatis, FACP, is a primary care physician in Atlanta, Ga. Previous to her primary care practice, she served on the general internal medicine faculty of Emory University, where she practiced clinical medicine and taught internal medicine residents for 12 years, and led initiatives to improve the quality of care for patients with diabetes. This work fostered an interest in innovative models of primary care delivery. Her blog, DrDialogue, acts as a conversation about health topics for patients and health professionals. This post originally appeared there.
Labels: cardiology, cardiovascular risk, drugs, geriatrics, guidelines, hypertension
posted by Juliet Mavromatis at
8:00 AM
Contact ACP Internist
Send comments to ACP Internist staff at acpinternist@acponline.org.
Previous Posts
- Mississippi learning
- QD: News Every Day--Formal votes begin to scuttle ...
- Point-and-click medicine: The EMR game
- QD: News Every Day--Physicians more pessimistic th...
- Ovarian cancer screening is still subpar
- Can doctors and lawyers both be right about defens...
- QD: News Every Day--The future health reform (all ...
- A video about a patient who might have too much in...
- QD: News Every Day--Primary care shortage worsenin...
- Influenza: It's not "just the flu"
Blog log
Members of the American College of Physicians contribute posts from their own sites to ACP Internistand ACP Hospitalist. Contributors include:
Albert Fuchs,
MD
Albert Fuchs, MD, FACP, graduated from the
University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, where he
also did his internal medicine training. Certified by the American
Board of Internal Medicine, Dr. Fuchs spent three years as a
full-time faculty member at UCLA School of Medicine before opening
his private practice in Beverly Hills in 2000.
And Thus, It Begins
Amanda Xi, ACP Medical
Student Member, is a first-year medical student at the OUWB School
of Medicine, charter class of 2015, in Rochester, Mich., from which
she which chronicles her journey through medical training from day
1 of medical school.
Zackary Berger
Zackary Berger, MD, ACP Member, is a primary care doctor and
general internist in the Division of General Internal Medicine at
Johns Hopkins. His research interests include doctor-patient
communication, bioethics, and systematic reviews.
Controversies in Hospital
Infection Prevention
Run by three ACP
Fellows, this blog ponders vexing issues in infection prevention
and control, inside and outside the hospital. Daniel J Diekema, MD,
FACP, practices infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, and
hospital epidemiology in Iowa City, Iowa, splitting time between
seeing patients with infectious diseases, diagnosing infections in
the microbiology laboratory, and trying to prevent infections in
the hospital. Michael B. Edmond, MD, FACP, is a hospital
epidemiologist in Richmond, Va., with a focus on understanding why
infections occur in the hospital and ways to prevent these
infections, and sees patients in the inpatient and outpatient
settings. Eli N. Perencevich, MD, ACP Member, is an infectious
disease physician and epidemiologist in Iowa City, Iowa, who
studies methods to halt the spread of resistant bacteria in our
hospitals (including novel ways to get everyone to wash their
hands).
db's Medical Rants
Robert M. Centor, MD, FACP, contributes short essays contemplating
medicine and the health care system.
DrDialogue
Juliet K. Mavromatis, MD, FACP, provides a conversation about
health topics for patients and health professionals.
Dr. Mintz' Blog
Matthew Mintz, MD, FACP, has practiced internal medicine for more
than a decade and is an Associate Professor of Medicine at an
academic medical center on the East Coast. His time is split
between teaching medical students and residents, and caring for
patients.
Everything
Health
Toni Brayer, MD, FACP, blogs about the rapid changes in science,
medicine, health and healing in the 21st century.
FutureDocs
Vineet Arora, MD, FACP, is Associate Program Director for the
Internal Medicine Residency and Assistant Dean of Scholarship &
Discovery at the Pritzker School of Medicine for the University of
Chicago. Her education and research focus is on resident duty
hours, patient handoffs, medical professionalism, and quality of
hospital care. She is also an academic hospitalist.
Glass Hospital
John H. Schumann, MD, FACP, provides transparency on the workings
of medical practice and the complexities of hospital care,
illuminates the emotional and cognitive aspects of caregiving and
decision-making from the perspective of an active primary care
physician, and offers behind-the-scenes portraits of hospital
sanctums and the people who inhabit them.
Gut Check
Ryan Madanick, MD, ACP Member, is a gastroenterologist at the
University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and the Program
Director for the GI & Hepatology Fellowship Program. He
specializes in diseases of the esophagus, with a strong interest in
the diagnosis and treatment of patients who have
difficult-to-manage esophageal problems such as refractory GERD,
heartburn, and chest pain.
I'm dok
Mike Aref, MD, PhD, FACP, is an academic hospitalist with an
interest in basic and clinical science and education, with
interests in noninvasive monitoring and diagnostic testing using
novel bedside imaging modalities, diagnostic reasoning, medical
informatics, new medical education modalities, pre-code/code
management, palliative care, patient-physician communication,
quality improvement, and quantitative biomedical imaging.
Informatics
Professor
William Hersh, MD, FACP, Professor and Chair, Department of Medical
Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health &
Science University, posts his thoughts on various topics related to
biomedical and health informatics.
David Katz, MD
David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACP, is an internationally renowned
authority on nutrition, weight management, and the prevention of
chronic disease, and an internationally recognized leader in
integrative medicine and patient-centered care.
Just Oncology
Richard Just, MD, ACP Member, has 36 years in clinical practice of
hematology and medical oncology. His blog is a joint publication
with Gregg Masters, MPH.
KevinMD
Kevin Pho, MD, ACP Member, offers one of the Web's definitive sites
for influential health commentary.
MD
Whistleblower
Michael Kirsch, MD, FACP, addresses the joys and challenges of
medical practice, including controversies in the doctor-patient
relationship, medical ethics and measuring medical quality. When
he's not writing, he's performing colonoscopies.
Medical Lessons
Elaine Schattner, MD, FACP, shares her ideas on education, ethics
in medicine, health care news and culture. Her views on medicine
are informed by her past experiences in caring for patients, as a
researcher in cancer immunology, and as a patient who's had breast
cancer.
Mired in MedEd
Alexander M.
Djuricich, MD, FACP, is the Associate Dean for Continuing Medical
Education (CME), and a Program Director in Medicine-Pediatrics at
the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, where he
blogs about medical education.
More Musings
Rob Lamberts, MD, ACP Member, a med-peds and general practice
internist, returns with "volume 2" of his personal musings about
medicine, life, armadillos and Sasquatch at More Musings (of a
Distractible Kind).
Prescriptions
David M. Sack, MD, FACP, practices general gastroenterology at a
small community hospital in Connecticut. His blog is a series of
musings on medicine, medical care, the health care system and
medical ethics, in no particular order.
Reflections of a Grady
Doctor
Kimberly Manning, MD, FACP, reflects on the personal side of being
a doctor in a community hospital in Atlanta.
The Blog of Paul Sufka
Paul Sufka,
MD, ACP Member, is a board certified rheumatologist in St. Paul,
Minn. He was a chief resident in internal medicine with the
University of Minnesota and then completed his fellowship training
in rheumatology in June 2011 at the University of Minnesota
Department of Rheumatology. His interests include the use of
technology in medicine.
Technology in (Medical)
Education
Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS, FACP, is interested in use of technology in
education, social media and networking, practice management and
evidence-based medicine tools, personal information and knowledge
management.
Peter A. Lipson,
MD
Peter A. Lipson, MD, ACP Member, is a practicing internist and
teaching physician in Southeast Michigan. The blog, which has been
around in various forms since 2007, offers musings on the
intersection of science, medicine, and culture.
Why is American Health Care So Expensive?
Janice
Boughton, MD, FACP, practiced internal medicine for 20 years before
adopting a career in hospital and primary care medicine as a locum
tenens physician. She lives in Idaho when not traveling.
World's Best Site
Daniel Ginsberg, MD,
FACP, is an internal medicine physician who has avidly applied
computers to medicine since 1986, when he first wrote medically
oriented computer programs. He is in practice in Tacoma,
Washington.
Other blogs of note:
American Journal of
Medicine
Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine
publishes original clinical articles of interest to physicians in
internal medicine and its subspecialities, both in academia and
community-based practice.
Clinical
Correlations
A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, MD, ACP
Member, associate program director at New York University Medical
Center's internal medicine residency program. Faculty, residents
and students contribute case studies, mystery quizzes, news,
commentary and more.
Interact MD
Michael Benjamin, MD, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so
he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the
Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news
of the day.
PLoS Blog
The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a
blog.
White Coat
Rants
One of the most popular anonymous blogs written by an emergency
room physician.
4 Comments:
great review. We should not take one publication, the Accord, vs many other publication showing the benefit of SBP less than 130.
Dr,
Are the JNC 8 results still coming out this Spring? I read somewhere they were delayed until July-August 2011.
Regards,
Thanks for your comments.
It appears as though the release of JNC 8 has been delayed again. Per the NHLBI website: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/hypertension/jnc8/index.htm
it is now projected to be out for public review and comment in summer of 2011 and released in spring of 2012.
When exactly are the JNC 8 guidelines expected?
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home