Patients on tailored antihypertensive monotherapy could see a twofold reduction in blood pressure than what could be achieved by simply increasing the dose alone, Swedish and Australian doctors report. 

Their repeated crossover trial comparing four different blood pressure–lowering drug classes showed that a personalised approach could provide an additional 4.4mmHg drop in systolic blood pressure, on average, than a fixed dose. 

“Given the size of the likely benefits, additional studies to confirm these findings … and to identify mechanisms to enable the personalisation of antihypertensive therapy in routine clinical practice should be a priority,” the authors wrote in JAMA. 

The team — including Professor Bruce Neal from The George Institute for Global Health, Australia — used 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring data from 270 patients (mean age 64) with hypertension.