• Posted August 28, 2026

Sticking To BP Meds Lowers Heart Risk, Study Finds

Folks who think missing a dose of blood pressure medication here or there won’t harm their health should probably think again, a new study says.

Regularly missing doses not only blunts the effectiveness of blood pressure drugs, but also increases risk of stroke or heart attack, researchers will report this weekend at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual meeting in Munich.

“Our results reinforce the saying that ‘drugs don’t work in patients who don’t take them,’ ” researcher Qianqian Yang, a doctoral student at the University of Oxford, said in a news release.

“Patients with lower adherence derived little or no cardiovascular benefit, whereas those with higher adherence had greater reductions in blood pressure and prevention of cardiovascular events,” Yang said.

About 1.4 billion adults worldwide ages 30 to 79 are estimated to have high blood pressure, researchers said in background notes.

For the new study, researchers pooled data from nine previous blood pressure medication trials involving more than 91,000 people.

The team divided participants into whether they’d taken their drugs 80% of the time; those who didn’t were classified as having “low adherence” to their prescription.

Overall, about 88% of people stuck to their prescription in the first year, compared to 79% by year five of the combined studies.

“A decline in adherence over time was apparent, even in the structured setting of trials,” Yang said.

In patients with high adherence, systolic blood pressure was reduced by 5.2 points between the treatment group and the comparison group, compared to 3 points among people with low adherence. (Systolic blood pressure, the top number in a blood pressure reading, is the force of blood against artery walls when the heart beats.)

People who stuck to their blood pressure meds also were 11% less likely to suffer from a stroke, heart attack, heart disease or heart failure, researchers said.

“We have evidence that poor adherence to antihypertensive medication is associated with worse outcomes,” Yang said.

The results show that doctors need to emphasize the importance of sticking to one’s prescription when trying to manage high blood pressure, researchers said.

Felix Mahfoud, chair of the European Society of Cardiology’s Communication Committee, agreed.

“For years, we have neglected non-adherence to medication as a cause for uncontrolled hypertension. Assessment of adherence should become a routine part of hypertension care so patients do not miss out on life-saving benefits,” he said.

"As healthcare providers, we are here to have open, non-judgmental conversations with our patients about any barriers they may have to taking medication, to help improve adherence,” Mahfoud concluded.

Researchers are scheduled to report their findings Sunday at the meeting. Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The American Heart Association has more on blood pressure medications.

SOURCE: European Society of Cardiology, news release, Aug. 27, 2026