Antihypertensive medication effectiveness for protecting against heart attack, stroke, and vascular death is not affected by whether the medication is taken in the morning or evening, according to a late-breaking study presented at the 2022 European Society of Cardiology Congress. Thomas MacDonald and colleagues randomly assigned 21,104 patients with high blood pressure (1:1) to take their usual antihypertensive medication in the morning or the evening. Median follow-up was 5.2 years. The composite primary endpoint of hospitalization for nonfatal myocardial infarction or nonfatal stroke or vascular death occurred in 3.4% of participants in the evening dosing group (0.69 events per 100 patient-years) and 3.7% of patients in the morning dosing group (0.72 events per 100 patient-years), yielding an unadjusted HR of 0.95 (95% CI, 0.83-1.10; P=0.53). Results were similar in prespecified subgroup analyses. “People with high blood pressure should take their regular antihypertensive medications at a time of day that is convenient for them and minimizes any undesirable effects,” MacDonald said in a statement
