The Heart Foundation and the Stroke Foundation have joined forces to lead a charge towards developing two new sets of guidelines for the management of hypertension (high blood pressure) and lipids (dangerous fats including cholesterol).
The two foundations will conduct a systematic review of existing literature on the subjects, with the aim of crafting new, bespoke guidelines for managing the two conditions by early next year.
The foundations say hypertension and high cholesterol are key risk factors for both heart attacks and strokes, so it’s important that guidelines reflect the most up-to-date evidence.
Key stakeholders from the healthcare sector will assist with the review, as well as other foundations including Hypertension Australia and the Australian Atherosclerosis Society (ACS).
Around 4.5 million Australian adults have high blood pressure and 8.5 million have abnormal blood lipid levels. In turn, ischemic heart attack is the number one killer of Australians, while strokes are fourth.
Lisa Murphy, Stroke Foundation CEO, says the taskforce will hopefully lead to a new worldwide best practice for management of the two conditions.
“The Australian clinical and disease prevention sectors have an exciting opportunity to help us progress the review and re-design of a global gold standard in clinical guidelines for helping people improve the management of their cholesterol and blood pressure,” she says.
“Stroke and heart attacks are largely preventable through best-practice management of risk factors such as cholesterol and hypertension.”
Why do we need new guidelines?
David Lloyd, CEO of the Heart Foundation says recent improvements to the way both conditions are treated mean current rules are no longer fit for purpose.
“There have been significant advances in medications and treatments for these conditions in recent years. These advancements make the current guidelines outdated,” he says.
“The Heart and Stroke Foundations are very much looking forward to working with key stakeholders from the clinical and disease prevention communities to design new guidelines that ensure patients receive the most up-to-date and evidence-backed advice for their health care.”
The foundations say primary healthcare professionals have been asking them for guidance on how to integrate new therapies into the existing rules.
Since previous guidelines were released new therapies that have become available since the previous guidelines were released, recent evidence on thresholds and targets for treatment, and new diagnostic technologies.
This includes evidence such as a 2022 study which found current recommendations for the level of LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) at which medical intervention is recommended is almost 30 per cent higher than they should be.
Similarly, there have been significant advancement in drug therapies to treat hypertension. In recent clinical trials, an injectable drug called zilebesiran was found to lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension for as long as six months.
Do you suffer from high blood pressure? When was the last time you had your cholesterol levels checked? Let us know in the comments section below.
Also read: What’s the link between blood pressure and ageing?
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