One of the best ways to avoid a heart attack or stroke is to keep blood pressure under control. Although doctors have debated the best targets for blood pressure at various ages, they agree that it is crucial for patients to take their prescribed antihypertensive medicine as they should.
Skipping Doses:
A recent report from the CDC included over 18 million people enrolled in Medicare Part D. This prescription drug program allowed the scientists to track how many people filled their prescriptions and how often they got them refilled.
One out of four seniors skipped doses of their blood pressure medication or stopped taking it completely. Presumably, most people know that uncontrolled hypertension is a leading risk factor for heart attacks and strokes.
One weakness of the study is that researchers could not ask people why they weren’t taking their pills as prescribed. As a result, we don’t know if cost was a barrier or if people were experiencing side effects that they found intolerable.
What Should a Patient Do to Avoid a Heart Attack?
The CDC report encourages health professionals to engage patients in shared decision-making about blood pressure medicine. The experts recommend generic drugs that are affordable. They would also like to have patients use home blood pressure monitors. Perhaps there should also be better programs so that health coaches can help people adopt healthier lifestyles and maintain exercise and weight loss.
Many people have written to complain about side effects such as an ACE-inhibitor cough or wheezing due to a beta-blocker. There are non-drug approaches that can help lower blood pressure; you can learn about them in our Guide to Blood Pressure Treatment. They require patience and persistence, however, and people may need to take medication to avoid a heart attack while working on losing weight, exercising regularly and learning to meditate. That is where a health coach could help. Unfortunately, most Medicare Part D programs do not cover the expense of coaching.
