Journal of hypertension
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Journal of hypertension · Jan 2011
Meta AnalysisThe effects of blood pressure reduction and of different blood pressure-lowering regimens on major cardiovascular events according to baseline blood pressure: meta-analysis of randomized trials.
The benefits of reducing blood pressure are well established, but there remains uncertainty about whether the magnitude of the effect varies with the initial blood pressure level. The objective was to compare the risk reductions achieved by different blood pressure-lowering regimens among individuals with different baseline blood pressures. ⋯ It appears unlikely that the effectiveness of blood pressure-lowering treatments depends substantively upon starting blood pressure level. As the majority of patients in the trials contributing to these overviews had a history of hypertension or were receiving background blood pressure-lowering therapy, the findings suggest that additional blood pressure reduction in hypertensive patients meeting initial blood pressure targets will produce further benefits. More broadly, the data are supportive of the utilization of blood pressure-lowering regimens in high-risk patients with and without hypertension.