Men who take multiple blood pressure medications can also take Viagra without risking additional problems, according to a new study.

In the study, funded by Viagra’s maker Pfizer, 568 men on more than one medication to control their blood pressure tried Viagra for 6 to 12 weeks. Most reported improvements in their erections and ability to have intercourse, and none reported any warning signs of serious side effects for the heart.

These findings suggest that for the many men coping with both high blood pressure and Erectile dysfunction, Viagra may help, study author Dr. Thomas G. Pickering of Columbia University in New York told Reuters Health.

More than one-quarter of American men 18 and older have high blood pressure, or hypertension, and the rate of the condition increases with age - topping more than 70 percent in those 75 and older.

Some studies have shown that up to 70 percent of men with hypertension also have Erectile dysfunction, perhaps stemming from the disease or the blood pressure lowering drugs used to treat it.

In the American Journal of Hypertension, Pickering and his team write that men who suffer from erectile problems are “at increased risk” of choosing to stop their blood pressure medications.

However, in an interview, Pickering explained that experts have been concerned that men who take Viagra and blood pressure medications might experience a precipitous drop in blood pressure.

This concern stemmed from observations that men who take a class of drug called nitrates for angina can experience a dangerous plunge in blood pressure after taking Viagra, he noted.

Indeed, a recent joint statement from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology cautioned that it may be “potentially hazardous” to take Viagra with more than one blood pressure medication. The concern was that multiple blood pressure medications might increase the risk of problems more than just one drug, Pickering explained.

In the study, he and his colleagues asked 568 men with erectile dysfunction on two or more blood pressure-lowering drugs to try Viagra or an inactive (placebo) drug for 6 weeks, then gave everyone Viagra for another 6 weeks.

Overall, 71 percent on Viagra said their erections improved, relative to only 18 percent on placebo. Another 69 percent of men on Viagra said intercourse improved, compared to only 20 percent of placebo-takers.

During the first six weeks of the study, 40 percent of men on Viagra and 25 percent of men taking the placebo reported side effects, including headache, flushing and abnormal vision. Four patients from each group chose to stop treatment because of the side effects.

Overall, the side effects were “nothing serious,” Pickering said, adding that no patients reported chest pain or feeling like they were going to faint.

The researcher explained that Viagra both works and wears off quickly, so if there were dangers from the drug, he and his colleagues would likely have seen them. “I think if it was going to happen, it would have happened” during the study, he said.

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SOURCE: American Journal of Hypertension, December 2004.