Experts: Over-55s Should Take Blood Pressure Drugs

Prof Law, who is professor of epidemiology at the Wolfson Institute at Barts and The London School of Medicine, argued that current approaches to giving people drugs actually "medicalize" them.

"The whole approach of telling some people they have high blood pressure, we see this as medicalizing as it can alarm people when their actual risk is not much above average."

Prof Law and colleagues analyzed the findings of 147 blood pressure trials published between 1966 and 2007, involving 464,000 people.

Among those aged 65 living in England and Wales, the risk of having a heart attack in the next 10 years is about 10% for men and 5% for women, researchers said.

But taking blood pressure-lowering drugs could cut the number suffering heart attacks and strokes.

In an accompanying editorial, Richard McManus from the University of Birmingham and Jonathan Mant from the University of Cambridge backed the view that blood pressure drugs should be given out on the basis of risk, regardless of blood pressure readings.

Both experts said the findings supported the idea of giving everyone over a certain age a "polypill" -- a drug that would include a statin to lower cholesterol as well as treatment for blood pressure.

Prof Law is one of the pioneers of the polypill and has argued it is a safe and effective way of helping cut the number of heart attacks and strokes in the UK.

Mike Rich, of charity the Blood Pressure Association, said: "Prevention is better than cure, but there are other proven ways to prevent high blood pressure such as healthy eating and regular exercise, which have other health benefits too."