The role of the critical event committee in a major cardiovascular outcome study.

Outcome studies in cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension are often based in a number of countries recruiting from multiple centres. This can lead to difficulties in end-point evaluation and classification. The INSIGHT study provided the unique opportunity to examine the role and usefulness of a Critical Event Committee (CEC) established to examine all events occurring in a cohort of 6321 patients and classifying them according to pre-determined criteria.

The Framingham prediction rule is not valid in a European population of treated hypertensive patients.

Background: Stratification of population groups according to cardiovascular risk level is recommended for primary prevention.

Objective: To assess whether the Framingham models could accurately predict the absolute risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke in a large cohort of middle-aged European patients with hypertension, and rank individual patients according to actual risk.

Design: A prospective cohort study comparing the actual risk with that predicted by either the Framingham equations or models derived from the INSIGHT study.

[Global cardiovascular risk: definition, evaluation and management strategies. Round table no. 1. XV].

The global cardiovascular risk is the probability of developing a cardiovascular disease within a defined period of time, taking into account several risk factors simultaneously. Born 50 years ago with the analytical epidemiology of cardiovascular diseases, this concept may be considered today as a potential prevention tool integrating the multifactorial aspect of these diseases. Its implementation in clinical practice raises numerous questions related to its estimation, practical use and consequences for the health system.

Gastroduodenal tolerability of medium dose enteric-coated aspirin: a placebo controlled endoscopic study of a new enteric-coated formulation versus regular formulation in healthy volunteers.

We compared, in a cross-over study, the toxicity of 300 mg enteric-coated aspirin with regular aspirin used for the prevention of cardiovascular events. In terms of endoscopic haemorrhagic lesions, enteric-coated aspirin is less gastrotoxic than regular aspirin.