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 People taking drugs known as beta-blockers and calcium antagonists
for more than 90 days were twice as likely to be hospitalized for a
mood disorder such as major depression or bipolar disease, compared
to people treating their high blood pressure with so-called
angiotensin antagonists, researchers report.
Commonly prescribed beta-blockers include propranolol, metoprolol,
and atenolol, for example. Calcium channels blockers include
amlodipine, nifedipine, verapamil, and diltiazem, while losartan,
valsartan, telmisartan, and candesartan are all angiotensin
blockers.
Still, people on these medications shouldn't change their
prescription or do anything differently, said senior author Dr.
Sandosh Padmanabhan, of the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical
Sciences at the University of Glasgow in the U.K.
"People need to take their drugs because these drugs are effective
at preventing heart attack and stroke," he told Reuters Health.
He and his colleagues write in the journal Hypertension that
depression and heart disease are both common health problems, and
the links between them may go in both directions.
For example, bipolar disorder is tied to about a two-fold increased
risk of high blood pressure and death related to heart problems,
they write. Additionally, major depressive disorder is tied to an
increased risk of high blood pressure.
There is also evidence to suggest that beta-blockers are tied to
mood problems, like depression, said Padmanabhan. Some recent
genetic evidence suggest calcium antagonists may also be tied to
mood disorders.
To examine the link between blood pressure drugs and mood disorders,
the researchers analyzed hospital data on 144,066 patients ages 40
to 80 who had been taking medicines for at least 90 days to control
their high blood pressure - either angiotensin antagonists,
beta-blockers, calcium antagonists or thiazide diuretics (water
pills).
Anyone who had previously been admitted to a hospital for a mood
disorder was excluded from the study.
The blood pressure patients were compared to 111,936 people not
taking blood pressure medications.
Over roughly five years, 299 of the patients were admitted to a
hospital for mood disorders.
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Those using beta-blockers and calcium antagonists were about twice
as likely to be hospitalized for a mood disorder as people taking
angiotensin antagonists after accounting for a number of factors
that might influence the results, like age, sex and overall health.
Angiotensin antagonists, in contrast, seem to protect against severe
mood disorder, Padmanabhan noted. People using these drugs were less
likely to be admitted to the hospital for mood disorder problems
than people not taking medications at all.
Dr. Maan Fares, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio,
agreed that patients shouldn't change their medication based on this
study.
"It’s based on a retrospective analysis and the evidence isn’t
sufficient to make any changes in our treatment patterns today,"
said Fares, who wasn't involved in the new study.
The study does, however, confirm the need for better designed
trials, he said.
Padmanabhan also cautioned that the study's findings are limited. He
and his colleagues are currently looking at previous clinical trials
of blood pressure drugs to see if those researchers captured data on
depression, which would make it easier to confirm the findings.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2dPIbAA Hypertension, online October 10, 2016.
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