Despite common belief, a new study suggests that blood pressure medication does not cause more falls.

Researchers found no evidence supporting the belief that patients receiving intensive blood pressure treatment are prone to falling and breaking bones.

Evidence from various clinical trials shows that cardiovascular events such as strokes can be prevented by treating high blood pressure (hypertension), but physicians and patients still often express concern that its tight control may increase a person's risk of low blood pressure (hypotension) and subsequent falls and fractures.

Scientific data to support this notion are sparse.

"Lowering blood pressure using intensive treatment compared with standard treatment did not result in an increased rate of falls or fractures and, in fact, showed possible trends towards fewer fractures in the intensively treated patients," explains Karen Margolis, lead author of the study. "[O]ur results and review of the literature suggest a need to carefully reconsider current thinking about whether antihypertensive treatment and blood pressure lowering increases risk for falls and fractures."

For the study, researchers collected data from participants who were a part of ACCORD-BONE, an ancillary study of the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) randomized trial, which tested how more intensive treatment of blood sugar, blood pressure and lipids affected cardiovascular disease outcomes in people with diabetes. Participants were, on average, about 62 years old.

The research team found that patients who received intensive blood pressure treatment did not fall more than less intensively treated patients, nor did they incur more fractures over an average follow-up of about five years.

They concluded that their results suggest a need to carefully reconsider current thinking about whether antihypertensive treatment and blood pressure lowering increases risk for falls and fractures.

The findings were recently published Journal of General Internal Medicine.