Like this article?
Get your free daily medical news from Physician's First Watch.
Tight Blood Pressure Control Benefits Patients Without Diabetes
Tight blood pressure control appears superior to usual care in some hypertensive patients without diabetes, reports an industry-supported, open-label study in Lancet.
Some 1100 nondiabetic, white adults with systolic BPs of 150 mm Hg or higher while on antihypertensive treatment, plus at least one additional cardiac risk factor, were randomized to tight systolic control (<130 mm Hg) or usual care (<140 mm Hg).
At 2 years, risk for the primary endpoint — left ventricular hypertrophy on electrocardiogram — was lower with tight versus usual control (11% vs. 17%). In addition, a secondary composite outcome of major cardiovascular events occurred less often with tight control (5% vs. 9%). Side effects did not differ between the groups.
A commentator says the findings support a lower systolic BP goal in this patient population. However, he calls for additional research before changing treatment guidelines in low-risk hypertensive patients.
LINK(S):
Lancet article (Free abstract; full text requires subscription)
Lancet comment (Subscription required)
Published in Physician's First Watch August 14, 2009
Reader Remarks:
Read all Reader Remarks on this article
- Tight Blood Pressure Control
Abid Ahmed, Jeddah Diabetes and Hypertension Care Center, Jeddah, 14 Aug 2009 11:46 AM EST
The Lancet study again has very emphatically driven the fact for all practising physician that tight BP control is does... [more]
Your Remark:
To ensure that your Reader Remark is not formatted as one long paragraph, precede new paragraphs with either a blank line or an indentation.