Hypertension
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Relative and Combined Prognostic Importance of On-Treatment Mean and Visit-to-Visit Blood Pressure Variability in ONTARGET and TRANSCEND Patients.
In 28 790 patients recruited for the ONTARGET (Ongoing Treatment Alone and in Combination With Ramipril Global End Point Trials) and TRANSCEND (Telmisartan Randomized Assessment Study in ACE Intolerant Subjects With Cardiovascular Disease) trials, we investigated the prognostic value for cardiovascular events (primary outcome) of (1)on-treatment visit-to-visit systolic blood pressure (SBP) variability versus mean SBP and (2) the 2 measures together. SBP variability was measured by the coefficient of variation (CV) of mean SBP to which it was unrelated. Confounders such as variable time and number of visits from which to calculate SBP-CV were avoided by using the same number of visits at identical times in all patients. ⋯ Prediction of the primary outcome improved by the combined use of both measures: global test for trend, P<0.0001; hazard ratio for combined fifth versus first quintile, 1.42 (1.20-1.68) compared with 1.13 (1.01-1.27) for SBP-CV and 1.24 (1.11-1.40) for mean SBP. Thus, in the present study, on-treatment mean SBP provided an overall better prediction of cardiovascular risk than visit-to-visit SBP-CV. Prediction improved by their combined use, which may thus offer a more precise estimate of the protective effect of treatment.