Morning, Evening Blood Pressure Medications Equally Effective
When it comes to your cardiovascular risk, remembering to take your blood pressure medications matters more than the time of day when you take them, a recent study suggests. Researchers examined the effect of the timing of blood pressure dosing on cardiovascular risk in two randomized trials: the BedMed trial, which included 3,357 community-dwelling older adults; and the BedMed-Frail study, involving 776 nursing home residents. Participants in both studies were counseled to take all their blood pressure medications in the morning or the evening and were followed an average of 4½ years in the BedMed trial and 415 days in the BedMed-Frail trial. At the end of each study period, the researchers found no significant differences in the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (heart attack, stroke, heart failure or death) between the morning and evening dosing regimens. The study authors noted that patients should be counseled to take their blood pressure medicine at a time when they are least likely to forget (European Society of Cardiology Congress, August 2024).
