Heart failure medications - dosages

February 17, 2024 Andrew To

Iris Iris Iris by Dane Mitchell @ Auckland Art Gallery 2019

Heart failure medications save lives.

Dosages are important though, and many patients may not be on sufficient dosages.

Here are a number of tables useful for references, adapted from ACC/AHA guidelines 2013.

Hypertension treatment – how should we choose?

September 6, 2019 Andrew To

Billy Apple @ Auckland Art Gallery 2015 (2 Minutes 33 Seconds (Red))

First line agents for hypertension are one of three classes:

- ACE inhibitors or Angiotensin receptor blockers

- Thiazides

- Calcium channel blockers

Drug preference is mainly influenced by co-morbidities and contraindications, rather than a simple age cut-off.

BP therapy initiation - Combination vs. Single Agent

September 4, 2019 Andrew To

Expected BP lowering with different anti-hypertensive classes and dosages.

65M with Type 2 diabetes on oral hypoglycaemics but no proven coronary artery disease, BP 150/95mmHg despite 3 months of intensive lifestyle modifications, not currently on anti-hypertensives. Would you?

- Introduce low dose ACE inhibitors, with gradual up-titration

- Introduce combination ACE inhibitor / thiazide, with up-titration later on

ACC AHA Hypertension Guidelines 2017 – What’s new?

February 1, 2018 Andrew To

@ AHA Meeting in Anaheim 2017 - taking notes

The ACC/AHA Hypertension Guidelines 2017 was released in the AHA meeting in Anaheim, Californiain November 2017.

While there were a lot of changes, I think it has simplified a lot of the complexities surrounding treatment threshold and goal.