Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Aug 30: In a breakthrough that could significantly improve the management of high blood pressure worldwide, an international team of researchers from India, Australia, the US, and the UK has unveiled a novel online tool designed to help doctors choose the most effective blood pressure medications tailored to individual patient needs.
The new blood pressure treatment efficacy calculator, developed using data from nearly 500 randomised clinical trials involving over 100,000 patients, provides a data-driven way to estimate how much different antihypertensive drugs — at varying doses and combinations — will lower a patient’s blood pressure. The tool aims to bridge the gap between treatment guidelines and real-world outcomes, offering a clearer path to reaching optimal blood pressure targets.
Dr. Mohammad Abdul Salam of The George Institute for Global Health in Hyderabad, one of the study’s lead authors, highlighted the importance of such an approach: “We cannot overlook the importance of controlling high blood pressure effectively and efficiently. Our tool provides clarity on which drugs are likely to be most effective, helping physicians make more informed treatment decisions.”
The research, published in The Lancet, challenges the conventional stepwise method of prescribing a single antihypertensive drug — which on average reduces systolic blood pressure by just 8–9 mmHg. This is often insufficient, as many patients require reductions in the range of 15–30 mmHg to reach healthy blood pressure levels.
Nelson Wang, cardiologist and Research Fellow at The George Institute, noted that relying solely on direct blood pressure readings to adjust treatment can be unreliable due to their natural variability. Instead, the new tool leverages global trial data to offer more stable estimates of how much a particular drug or combination will lower blood pressure.
Like the cholesterol treatment model, the calculator categorises therapies into low-, moderate-, and high-intensity regimens, allowing physicians to better match treatment to the severity of a patient’s condition.
High blood pressure, often dubbed the “silent killer,” affects 1.3 billion people globally and is responsible for nearly 10 million deaths annually, primarily from heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure. Alarmingly, fewer than 20% of those diagnosed manage to keep it under control — a gap this tool hopes to narrow by empowering healthcare providers with better treatment strategies.
With hypertension continuing to be a leading global health threat, this new tool offers a promising step forward in tackling the crisis through personalised, precision-based care.