What recommendations did the committee make regarding monitoring patients taking MRAs?
The committee recommended baseline measurement and regular monitoring of patients renal function and potassium levels, as well as drug interactions, and that clinicians seek specialist advice in the case of deterioration (rather than automatically discontinuing the MRA). The committee discussed the intervals at which patients taking MRAs should be monitored and agreed that this should take place before starting an MRA, 1-2 weeks after commencing the medicine and after each dose increment. Once a person had reached their target or highest tolerated dose they should be monitored monthly for 3 months to ensure no adverse effects. After this, the committee agreed that 6 monthly monitoring was sufficient or when a person became acutely unwell. The importance of measuring blood pressure after each dose increment was also stressed by the committee as postural hypotension was a common cause of hospital admission in the elderly.