An article published on HealthDay News back in December 6th 2012 highlighted the importance of taking a patient’s health into account with regards to weight.

According to this new study, lean and obese people have a tendency of reacting differently when they take blood pressure medicines. The concept of the findings is further sidelined to treatment extended to hypertension. According to multiple feedbacks, people with high blood pressure may also react differently under normal conditions of high blood pressure prognosis. Dr. Michael Weber who is a professor of medicine at the Downstate Medical Center in New York City at the State University of New York confirmed that fat or obese people are said to have a better prognosis than thin or lean people when both diagnosed with high blood pressure.

For this reason, Weber goes ahead to present clear information that it is possible to use blood pressure meds when compensating for the difference between fat and thin people, whereby it would be easier to treat both genres regardless of their weight. This is where he further adds that all patients should be recommended to start on a class of drugs known as calcium channel blockers such as the Norvasc (amlodipine).

Diuretics on thin and obese people

Although the diuretics that reduce excess water within the body are said to be quite effective on obese patients, they could react negatively on lean patients thus why they should be passed on to third line therapy before being confirmed for use. The point is that according to Weber, obese people would be responding positively to diuretics since hypertension is a condition that results from combined excessive weight and the presence of too much fluid and salts respectively. This is something that the thin patient would lack and if present, not enough to withstand the side effects of diuretics.

The objective of the study

The primary goal of the study was to identify the particular drug combination that would treat high blood pressure better as well as reduce weight respectively. The patients that participated in the research study were chosen randomly and the data analyzed was on more than 11,000 individuals who had chosen to participate in the international blood pressure trials.

The participants were put into three different groups; there were those who were categorized as normal in weight, overweight as well as obese depending on their body mass indexes. The published report showed that normal people treated with diuretic didn’t fair so good since up to 68% of those tested under that category showed they would suffer from heart attack, possible stroke or even die when compared to those obese patients treated with the same. Today, however, there are some doctors still against obese people taking diuretics pointing out that it could trigger gout or poor glucose control in the blood.