What time of day should you take your blood pressure medication?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-05-13 01:00

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It could be ok to take blood pressure-lowering medication before bedtime rather than in the morning, according to Canadian researchers. The randomised trial looked at 3,357 patients with hypertension, and after a follow up of around four and a half years, they found taking blood pressure-lowering medications at bedtime had no effect on death or major heart events. They also found no difference in visual, mental, or fall- and fracture-related safety outcomes. The team says that time of day did not seem to affect risks and benefits of taking the blood pressure-lowering medication, and doctors could instead look at what time of day the patients prefer to take them.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Alberta, Canada

Funder: Funding/Support: BedMed was funded by a Support for Patient Oriented Research Innovative Clinical Trial multi-year grant (151212) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and by a Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Health System grant from Alberta Innovates (201500912G2019000450). BedMed also received in-kind research assistance from the Enhancing Alberta Primary Care Research Networks (EnACt), which itself is funded entirely by Alberta Innovates, and received pilot funding from the Northern Alberta Family Medicine Fund (University of Alberta Department of Family Medicine). Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Padwal reported being past chief executive officer of mmHg, a digital health company. Dr Hill reported receipt of grants from Boehringer Ingelheim and Medtronic to the University of Calgary and being president of the not-for-profit Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation. Dr Singer reported being paid by the University of Manitoba for academic work; receiving honoraria for advisory work by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba (2024), Canadian Cardiovascular Society (2024), Manitoba’s Southern Chiefs Organization (2021-2023), and Canadian Association of Drugs and Technology for Health (2024); participating on teams with grant funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Research Manitoba, Public Health Agency of Canada, Bayer (administered by Research Manitoba), Children’s Hospital Research Foundation, Health Science Centre Foundation, and Pfizer; being the principal investigator on a grant funded by IBM and Calian administered by the Canadian Institute for Military and Veterans Health Research; and participating in advocacy committees for the College of Family Physicians of Canada, Canadian Cardiovascular Society, and Choosing Wisely Canada. No other disclosures were reported.

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