Dietary Calcium and Blood Pressure

Letters15 March 1997Dietary Calcium and Blood PressureDaniel J. Cher, MDDaniel J. Cher, MDPalo Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA 94304Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-126-6-199703150-00017 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:The simultaneous publication of two well-done meta-analyses of the effect of calcium supplementation on blood pressure [1, 2] gives insight into how meta-analyses are done. Both meta-analyses seem to have used rigorous methods, yet the number of studies combined (16 compared with 6 for hypertensive patients and 13 compared with 33 for normotensive patients) and the total number of study patients (1231 compared with 2412) were quite different. A brief review of some of the references indicates that the same study [3] was used for normotensive persons in one meta-analysis and for hypertensive patients in another and ...References1. Allender PS, Cutler JA, Follmann D, Cappuccio F, Pryer J, Elliott P. Dietary calcium and blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Ann Intern Med. 1996; 124:825-31. Google Scholar2. Bucher HC, Cook RJ, Guyatt GH, Lang JD, Cook DJ, Hatala R, et al. Effects of dietary calcium supplementation on blood pressure. JAMA. 1996; 275:1016-22. Google Scholar3. Cappuccio FP, Markandu ND, Singer DR, Smith SJ, Shore AC, MacGregor GA. Does oral calcium supplementation lower high blood pressure? A double blind study. J Hypertens. 1987; 5:67-71. Google Scholar4. Tanji JL, Lew EY, Wong GY, Treguboff C, Ward JA, Amsterdam EA, et al. Dietary calcium supplementation as a treatment for mild hypertension. J Am Board Fam Pract. 1991; 4:145-50. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA 94304 PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics 15 March 1997Volume 126, Issue 6Page: 492KeywordsBlood pressureCalcium Issue Published: 15 March 1997 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 1997 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...