Heart drug perindopril helps seniors get active

According to scientists from Dundee University in Scotland, when seniors were given a drug commonly prescribed for heart conditions they were able to do more exercise.

The researchers discovered that older people became more active when they were given an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor drug called perindopril.

The research team say the majority of older people do not take regular exercise, even though it increases strength and slows mental decline.

So they conducted a test involving 130 pensioners from the Dundee area, age 79, who had difficulties performing day-to-day activities; some of the group were given a placebo and others perindopril.

Professor Marion McMurdo who led the study, says they found that those who had been given the drug could walk on average 30m further in six minutes than those who had been given the placebo.

After 20 weeks, the research team discovered those who had been taking the active drugs were able to take more exercise and had a better quality of life than the placebo group.

Professor McMurdo, the head of the university's ageing and health unit says Britain has an ageing population and so it is vital to older people and to health services that they stay as active as possible.

McMurdo says the finding is a tremendously important one as the level of improvement in exercise capacity is equivalent to that reported after six months of exercise training.

She says it may make an important difference for a growing sector of the population in which people might find it difficult to sustain that level of exercise.

Professor McMurdo says more research was needed to discover precisely why the drug worked and to establish if the drug has a beneficial effect on the heart, leg muscles or blood vessels.

The study is an extension of earlier research by the team, which found that heart failure patients were able to walk further after being prescribed ACE inhibitors.

The researchers hope the study will be used to improve the quality of life for Britain's ageing population.

The trial was funded by the Scottish Government's Chief Scientist Office and is published in the latest volume of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.