Dr. Gary Gibbons

Study backs more aggressive treatment of high blood pressure

Patients who got their blood pressure well below today's usually recommended level significantly cut their risk of heart disease and death, the National Institutes of Health announced Friday. The benefit was strong enough that NIH stopped the study about a year early.

"This study provides potentially life-saving information," declared Dr. Gary Gibbons, director of NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.