Prospective evaluation of the quality of oral anticoagulation management in an outpatient clinic and in general practices.

Objective: To compare the quality of oral anticoagulant therapy (QOAT), before and after referral of patients on oral anticoagulant therapy (OAT) from a hospital outpatient clinic (HOC) to general practitioners (GPs).

Design: Prospective observational study. Patients were identified by using the Laboratory Information System (LIS), containing all prescribed International Normalised Ratio of Prothrombin Time (INR) tests, from the HOC and GPs in the hospital submission area.

Some pharmacological and elastic characteristics of isolated subcutaneous small arteries from patients with essential hypertension.

Objective: To investigate the elastic characteristics of the wall of isolated subcutaneous resistance arteries from patients with essential hypertension, the response of the vessels to endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilators and the dependence on calcium.

Methods: Subcutaneous resistance arteries were isolated from 16 patients with never-treated essential hypertension and from 16 normotensive controls matched for age and sex. The vessels were mounted in a myograph for isometric force development.

Metoprolol versus thiazide diuretics in hypertension. Morbidity results from the MAPHY Study.

The present study in hypertensive men (40-64 years old) with untreated diastolic blood pressure above 100 mm Hg was aimed at investigating whether metoprolol (n = 1,609) given as initial treatment would lower the risk for coronary events (sudden death and myocardial infarction) more effectively than thiazide diuretics (n = 1,625). A substantial part of this study was the metoprolol arm of the Heart Attack Primary Prevention in Hypertension (HAPPHY) study. The HAPPHY study was a pooling of the effect of different beta-blockers, mainly metoprolol and atenolol, in which no favorable effect in relative risk was observed for atenolol as compared with diuretics.

Primary prevention of sudden cardiovascular death in hypertensive patients. Mortality results from the MAPHY Study.

In a randomized primary prevention trial including 3,234 men with mild to moderate uncomplicated hypertension, the effect of the beta-blocker metoprolol or a thiazide diuretic as an initial antihypertensive therapy was compared regarding the risk of sudden cardiovascular death during a follow-up ranging from 2.3 to 10.8 years (median of 4.