Optimise 2 Study

The OPTIMISE 2 trial will establish whether deprescribing common drugs that lower blood pressure is safe or effective in older people in the longer term (a year or more).

What are the possible benefits and risk of participating?

Benefits:

For those in the control group, there will be no clear additional benefits for taking part in the trial. For those in the intervention group who have their medication reduced, there is the possibility that they will be less likely to fall over, or suffer other side effects which could affect their quality of life. We will not know if this is the case until after the trial is finished. 

Risks:

All participants will receive normal routine care from their GP, those in the control arm will be at no further risk by taking part. As medications which lower blood pressure also lower the risk of heart attack and stroke, those in the intervention arm may be at higher risk if their blood pressure was left unchecked. However, follow-up visits with their GP will be booked at 4 weeks following medication reduction (per medication removed) and if blood pressure is seen to rise significantly the medication will be restored rendering the likelihood of suffering an adverse event very low. 

Risks are outlined in the patient information leaflet, as is a description of our data policy in order to reassure participants and provide clarity. 

In order to reduce the burden of travel we have designed the study with as few visits as possible, with the majority of our outcome data being gathered remotely.

Learn more about the study and take part