Elevated blood pressure, commonly referred to as hypertension, is prevalent and has become “big business”. As a result much that is written about hypertension is conflicted and influenced by vested interests. It is thus important to know how to find the least biased evidence. Adding to the complexity, the term “evidence” is used in many different ways with many meanings. This Letter uses the term … [Read more...]
[98] Does SPRINT change our approach to blood pressure targets?
Therapeutics Letter #821 summarized evidence from the Cochrane systematic review, Treatment blood pressure targets for hypertension.2 The Cochrane review was based on the 7 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) designed to test treatment targets that were available as of October 2008. The conclusion was that “Treating patients to lower than standard blood pressure (BP) targets (≤ 140-160/90-100 … [Read more...]
