UK hypertension care in the elderly debated

Older hypertensive patients deserve the best treatments, whether old ornew, according to the results of a debate sponsored by AstraZeneca and Takeda, held during the British Geriatrics Society conference in London, UK, recently.

The debate focused on whether, given the current climate of the UK's National Service Networks, treatment guidelines and increased cost awareness, elderly patients should only receive older, more established hypertension treatments, such as thiazide diuretics. Or, it was asked, do they also benefit from new classes of drugs, which may be better tolerated than older agents?

The debate examined SCOPE, the prospective, large-scale study on the effects of the angiotensin II receptor antagonist candesartan cilexetil (AstraZeneca's Atacand and Takeda's Blopress) on major cardiovascular endpoints including cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction and non-fatal stroke, in elderly patients with mild hypertension. SCOPE will also study the product's effects on cognitive function and quality of life, and will include a health economic evaluation.