BLOOD PRESSURE PILL RISK

ANGIOTENSIN-CONVERTING enzyme drugs, otherwise known as ACE inhibitors, are used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. They help widen blood vessels by relaxing the muscles around them.

There are many versions including enalapril, lisinopril, perindopril and ramipril, which is the fourth most commonly prescribed pill in England. Side- effects include a persistent dry cough, flushing and headaches initially, as well as fainting due to lowered blood pressure and fluid buildup around the ankles.

THE CONCERNS: A study published in October by researchers at McGill University in Canada, found that those who took ACE inhibitors were at a 14 per cent increased risk of lung cancer compared with those who took a different type of blood pressure pill.

The findings were based on data from a million UK patients who took ACE inhibitors between 1995 and 2015.

Professor Nilesh Samani, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, says the results were a ‘ surprise’, as ACE inhibitors are generally well tolerated.

‘They are undeniably lifesaving,’ he says. ‘One of the limitations of an observational study [looking back at patients’ medical records] like this one is that people may have developed lung cancer for reasons other than taking ACE inhibitors, such as being smokers.

‘Randomised controlled trials have been carried out on ACE inhibitors for 30 years, and to my knowledge no other study has found an association with lung cancer.’ WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU PROFESSOR Samani says ACE inhibitors are used mainly to treat heart failure and less for high blood pressure these days.

Anyone concerned by the risks (such as smokers) could ask to switch to calcium channel blockers — amlodipine, felodipine and nifedipine — and Angiotensin-2 receptor blockers (ARBs) such as candesartan, irbesartan and losartan.