Risks of antihypertensive medicationAlthough there’s no doubt that antihypertensive drugs reduce cardiovascular events among all age groups, they’re not without adverse effects for frail, older people. A retrospective analysis of data from general practice in the United Kingdom highlighted an increased risk of hospitalisation or death from falls among people taking antihypertensive medication, particularly in patients with dementia (Plos Med doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1004731). Among people with dementia taking antihypertensive drugs, the annual rate of falls was 47 per 10 000, compared with 14 per 10 000 in those without cognitive impairment.Metabolic syndrome and Parkinson’s diseaseAmong half a million people taking part in the UK Biobank study, those with features of the metabolic syndrome were around 40% more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than people without. The risk increased with the number of features (large waist circumference, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia) that were present. A meta-analysis of other longitudinal studies, involving nearly 25 million…
