SYDNEY, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Lowering blood pressure protects dialysis patients from major cardiovascular events and death, researchers in Australia said.
The study, published in The Lancet, also said that treatment with blood-pressure lowering drugs should be routinely considered for patients undergoing dialysis.
Vlado Perkovic of The George Institute for International Health in Australia said people who receive dialysis for chronic kidney disease are at high risk of cardiovascular events and death -- every year about 10 percent and 20 percent of patients on dialysis die, with nearly half these deaths due to cardiovascular causes.
Perkovic and international colleagues systematically reviewed eight randomized controlled trials that assessed the effect of blood-pressure lowering in 1,679 adult patients on dialysis, and involved 495 cardiovascular events.
Overall, findings showed that treatment with blood-pressure lowering drugs was associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular complications, all-cause mortality and cardiovascular deaths compared with controls.
