Statins Reduce Blood Pressure

The medications known as statins, typically prescribed to lower blood cholesterol levels, may also modestly reduce blood pressure, according to a new report in JAMA

Several previous studies have suggested that statins may have an effect on blood pressure, particularly in patients with hypertension (high blood pressure), according to background information in the article. Statins may activate compounds that widen blood vessels and improve their function.

Beatrice A. Golomb, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, conducted a randomized, double-blind trial comparing statins to placebo in 973 individuals who did not have diabetes or cardiovascular disease. For six months between 2000 and 2004, 322 participants were assigned to take 20 milligrams of simvastatin, 323 to take 40 milligrams of pravastatin (doses frequently prescribed for cholesterol-lowering purposes) and 328 to take placebo. Participants’ blood pressure was measured at the beginning of the study, at one and six months during treatment, and again two months after ending treatment (eight months after the beginning of the study).

Among individuals assigned to take statins, systolic [top number] blood pressure decreased by an average of 2.2 milligrams of mercury and diastolic [bottom number] blood pressure decreased by an average of 2.4 milligrams of mercury. “Blood pressure reductions ranged from 2.4 to 2.8 milligrams of mercury for both systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure with both simvastatin and pravastatin, in those subjects with full follow-up and without potential for influence by blood pressure medications (i.e., neither receiving nor meriting blood pressure medications),” the authors write.

The effect of statins on blood pressure was not evident at one month of treatment, was significant at six months of treatment and dissipated two months after treatment ended.

“This study adds to our understanding of the effects of statins, currently the best-selling prescription drugs in the world,” the authors write. “The reduction in blood pressure seen with statins may contribute—among other identified factors—to some of the ‘rapid’ cardiovascular benefits of statins, arising too swiftly to be explained by effects of statins on plaque accumulation.”

Arch Intern Med. 2008;168[7]:721-727.  www.jamamedia.org.

================================

FACT: Boy or Girl? The Answer May Depend on Mom’s Glucose Intake: How much a mother eats at the time of conception may influence whether she gives birth to a boy or a girl, a new report shows. The report, from researchers at Oxford and the University of Exeter in England, is said to be the first evidence that a child’s sex is associated with a mother’s diet. Although sex is genetically determined by whether sperm from the father supplies an X or Y chromosome, it appears that a mother’s body can favor the successful development of a male or female embryo. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, shows a link between higher energy intake around the time of conception and the birth of sons. The difference is not huge, but it may be enough to help explain the falling birthrate of boys in industrialized countries, including the United States and Britain. In vitro fertilization studies show that high levels of glucose encourage the growth of male embryos while inhibiting female embryos. The findings are based on a study of 740 first-time pregnant mothers in Britain who didn’t know the sex of their fetus. They provided records of their eating habits before and during the early stages of pregnancy, and researchers analyzed the data based on estimated calorie intake at the time of conception. Among women who ate the most, 56 percent had sons, compared with 45 percent among women who ate the least.