Medications may raise blood pressure

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TEL AVIV, Israel, March 20 (UPI) -- Painkillers such as ibuprofen can raise blood pressure and other medications can interfere with anti-hypertensive medications, researchers in Israel said.

Professor Ehud Grossman of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sheba Medical Center said many common over-the-counter and prescription medications are underlying causes of hypertension, which is a major risk factor for stroke, heart attack and aneurysms.

Oral contraceptive, antidepressants, anti-inflammatory pills to control pain and antibiotics to treat bacteria could cause drug-induced hypertension, but both patients and doctors remain dangerously uninformed, Grossman said.

Although high-blood pressure is a known side effect of many of these medications, doctors do not always account for them in their treatment plans, and they don't inform patients of the potential risks associated with these medications, Grossman explained.

"It's ultimately the doctor's responsibility to weigh treatment options and present the best course for their patient should issues of hypertension arise," Grossman said in a statement. "Many physicians don't account for this, and some don't even know about it. It's their responsibility to be informed and make sure that their patients are aware that this is a possibility."

The findings were published in the American Journal of Medicine.