A new study has revealed resuming angiotensin receptor blockers — common medications used to treat high blood pressure — soon after surgery may decrease death rates in the first month following surgery.
Here are five things to know about the study.
1. Researchers analyzed more than 30,000 patients who were taking ARB medication regularly prior to surgery and were admitted to the Veterans Affairs Healthcare system for non-cardiac surgery between 1999 and 2011.
2. They found nearly one third (10,205) of the patients studied did not have their usual ARB medication resumed within two days of their operation. Those patients who experienced a delay in restarting ARBs had a higher mortality rate within 30-days of surgery than those whose medication had been promptly resumed after surgery.
3. The effect of restarting ARBs within two days of their procedure was even greater among patients under 60 years old.
4. Researchers also found reduced rates of infection, pneumonia, heart failure and kidney failure in patients whose ARB medications were resumed soon after surgery, meaning resumption may also reduce complications after surgery.
5. Some physicians withhold ARB medication after surgery because they worry the medication may cause dangerously low blood pressure or disrupt kidney function but, even after accounting for these complications in the study, resuming ARB medication within two days after surgery was associated with a 50 percent lower mortality rate than those who resumed ARBs in the first month after surgery.
"Our study highlights the importance of resuming medications that patients were previously taking at home as soon as it is feasible after surgery," said Susan Lee, MD, lead author of the study and clinical instructor at the University of California, San Francisco.