JEDDAH, 30 April 2003 — Blood pressure in the Kingdom is on the rise, according to Dr. Walid Basata, manager of the arteriosclerosis club in Jeddah and consultant in interior medicine at Bukhshan Hospital. He said 15 percent of Saudi population suffer from high blood pressure, citing diabetes, work pressure, lack of exercise and change in food habits as the main causes.
Help for some, however, may not be far off. Pfizer Inc. said today that patients with normal or mildly elevated cholesterol levels, who took the cholesterol-lowering medicine Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) had 36 percent fewer fatal coronary events and non-fatal heart attacks than patients treated with a placebo, according to the results of a landmark clinical trial presented here today at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.
