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Timing of medication may help

Changing the time that patients take blood pressure medication may help them avoid heart and kidney disease, according to a small study.

The Italian researchers found switching the dose of one blood pressure drug from morning to evening helped create normal night time blood pressure levels.

It is normal for blood pressure to drop 10% between midnight and 3am. People with kidney disease did not have this normal drop, which puts them at greater risk for heart attack and stroke.

The study

The small study at The University of Naples analyzed the blood pressure levels of 32 patients with kidney disease on more than 1 blood pressure medication.

The patients changed one of their blood pressure drugs from morning to evening. As a result, 28 achieved normal nighttime blood pressure levels in 8 weeks.

Cardiologist Dr Lundberg from the American Heart Association told WebMD "Patients like to take them (blood pressure medication) all at one time for convenience, but they tend to feel better if they spread them out. And this study showed an actual cardiovascular benefit to doing this."

She also said, "This study looked at a very specific group of patients, so we can't say that all patients should do this. But this is intriguing evidence that spreading pills out may have real cardiovascular benefits."

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