Blood Pressure-Lowering Drugs Prevent Headache

Blood-pressure lowering drugs prevent a significant proportion of headaches, is the conclusion of an English study published in the October 11 issue of the journal "Circulation".

The team at the Centre for Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts, and the London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry had set as goal to clear up the uncertainty over whether blood pressure-lowering drugs prevented headache and started a meta-analysis of 94 randomized trials of 4 different classes of blood pressure-lowering drugs: thiazides, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor antagonists. The medication was prescribed in fixed doses and data on headaches were reported in all these trials.

17,641 participants were administered blood pressure-lowering drugs and 6603 were given placebo. On average, medication lowered the patients' systolic blood pressure by 9.4 mm Hg and their diastolic blood pressure by 5.5 mm Hg. The results indicated that 8.0% of the people receiving blood pressure-lowering medication reported headaches, as compared to 12.4% of the placebo group, which means one third fewer in the treated groups.

Scientists led by Dr. Malcolm Law, Professor of Epidemiology at London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, have found that approximately 1 in 30 people had headaches prevented, and that patients had fewer headaches in all trials, involving each of the 4 classes of drugs.

Since the 4 classes of drugs are pharmacologically unrelated, they conclude that the reduction of headaches is an effect of the blood pressure reduction in itself, as this is the only action the 4 types of drugs have in common.

Although the results may also indicate that high blood pressure can be a cause of the headaches, this has not been supported by enough observational studies on blood pressure and headaches. However, this uncertainty should not influence the use of blood pressure-lowering medication in preventing headaches and cardiovascular disease.

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