• Jiamin Liu, Yan Li, Jinzhuo Ge, Xiaofang Yan, Haibo Zhang, Xin Zheng, Jiapeng Lu, Xi Li, Yan Gao, Lubi Lei, Jing Liu, Jing Li, and ESPRIT Collaborative Group.
• National Clinical Research Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease, Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Beijing, China.
• Lancet. 2024 Jul 20; 404 (10449): 245255245-255.

BackgroundUncertainty exists about whether lowering systolic blood pressure to less than 120 mm Hg is superior to that of less than 140 mm Hg, particularly in patients with diabetes and patients with previous stroke.MethodsIn this open-label, blinded-outcome, randomised controlled trial, participants with high cardiovascular risk were enrolled from 116 hospitals or communities in China. We used minimised randomisation to assign participants to intensive treatment targeting standard office systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg or standard treatment targeting less than 140 mm Hg. The primary outcome was a composite of myocardial infarction, revascularisation, hospitalisation for heart failure, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes, assessed by the intention-to-treat principle. This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04030234.FindingsBetween Sept 17, 2019, and July 13, 2020, 11 255 participants (4359 with diabetes and 3022 with previous stroke) were assigned to intensive treatment (n=5624) or standard treatment (n=5631). Their mean age was 64·6 years (SD 7·1). The mean systolic blood pressure throughout the follow-up (except the first 3 months of titration) was 119·1 mm Hg (SD 11·1) in the intensive treatment group and 134·8 mm Hg (10·5) in the standard treatment group. During a median of 3·4 years of follow-up, the primary outcome event occurred in 547 (9·7%) participants in the intensive treatment group and 623 (11·1%) in the standard treatment group (hazard ratio [HR] 0·88, 95% CI 0·78-0·99; p=0·028). There was no heterogeneity of effects by diabetes status, duration of diabetes, or history of stroke. Serious adverse events of syncope occurred more frequently in the intensive treatment group (24 [0·4%] of 5624) than in standard treatment group (eight [0·1%] of 5631; HR 3·00, 95% CI 1·35-6·68). There was no significant between-group difference in the serious adverse events of hypotension, electrolyte abnormality, injurious fall, or acute kidney injury.InterpretationFor hypertensive patients at high cardiovascular risk, regardless of the status of diabetes or history of stroke, the treatment strategy of targeting systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg, as compared with that of less than 140 mm Hg, prevents major vascular events, with minor excess risk.FundingThe Ministry of Science and Technology of China and Fuwai Hospital.TranslationFor the Mandarin translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.

24 keywords...

hide…