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Patients who have high blood pressure are highly likely to have untreated or insufficiently treated cholesterol problems that can significantly increase their risk for heart attack and stroke, new research reveals.

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, June 29, 2004

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Carefully monitor the cholesterol levels of patients who have high blood pressure. A new study reveals that patients who have high blood pressure are highly likely to have untreated or insufficiently treated cholesterol problems that can significantly increase their risk for heart attack and stroke.

The Mayo Clinic-led study suggests that nearly two-thirds of the nearly 50 million U.S. adults with hypertension may also have high cholesterol that their physicians are not treating aggressively enough.

"This double whammy has enormous implications for disease prevention," says Stephen Turner, MD, a hypertension specialist who led the study. The research appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Vol. 164, No. 12, pp. 1306-1312).

"High blood pressure and high cholesterol are two of the most important risk factors for heart attack and stroke," says he adds. "Having both doesn't just add to your risk of cardiovascular disease-it multiplies the risk. And if you have high blood pressure, our study suggests you are likely to have lipid abnormalities."

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