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Live Well

Are medications hiking up your blood pressure?

In this country, 24% of people have taken at least three prescription drugs in the past 30 days.

The result? They might end up with a new issue — high blood pressure — as they medicate for another problem.

That’s the alarm being sounded in a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine. A nationally representative survey found that 18% of U.S. adults with high blood pressure also take medications such as antidepressants, prescription NSAIDs, steroids, anti-obesity drugs, decongestants and more that could cause high blood pressure. If that sounds like you, talk to your doctors. Many such medications have effective alternatives.

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Dr. Michael Roizen, Cleveland Clinic chief wellness officer emeritus

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