Low Diastolic Blood Pressure and Mortality in Older Women. Results From the Women's Health Initiative Long Life Study.

Background: Recommended systolic blood pressure targets often do not consider the relationship of low diastolic blood pressure (DBP) levels with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality risk, which is especially relevant for older people with concurrent comorbidities. We examined the relationship of DBP levels to CVD and all-cause mortality in older women in the Women's Health Initiative Long Life Study (WHI-LLS).

Methods: The study sample included 7,875 women (mean age: 79 years) who underwent a blood pressure measurement at an in-person home visit conducted in 2012-2013.

Salt and cardiovascular disease: insufficient evidence to recommend low sodium intake.

Several blood pressure guidelines recommend low sodium intake (<2.3 g/day, 100 mmol, 5.8 g/day of salt) for the entire population, on the premise that reductions in sodium intake, irrespective of the levels, will lower blood pressure, and, in turn, reduce cardiovascular disease occurrence.

Hypertension: evolving from standardized to individualized care.

: The hypertension paradigm has contributed to a dramatic reduction in CVD mortality. This has been achieved by applying average results of population studies to identify a target population and design a common intervention to achieve a BP goal. Progressive lowering of the BP threshold has expanded the fraction of persons at risk who have access to treatment.

Should Antihypertensive Treatment Recommendations Differ in Patients With and Without Coronary Heart Disease? (from the Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial [ALLHAT]).

Thiazide-type diuretics have been recommended for initial treatment of hypertension in most patients, but should this recommendation differ for patients with and without coronary heart disease (CHD)? The Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT) was a randomized, double-blind hypertension treatment trial in 42,418 participants with high risk of combined cardiovascular disease (CVD) (25% with preexisting CHD). This post hoc analysis compares long-term major clinical outcomes in those assigned amlodipine (n = 9048) or lisinopril (n = 9,054) with those assigned chlorthalidone (n = 15,255), stratified by CHD status. After 4 to 8 years, randomized treatment was discontinued.

Stroke outcomes among participants randomized to chlorthalidone, amlodipine or lisinopril in ALLHAT.

The Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT) was a randomized, double-blind, practice-based, active-control, comparative effectiveness trial in 33,357 high-risk hypertensive participants. ALLHAT compared cardiovascular disease outcomes in participants initially treated with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (lisinopril), a calcium channel blocker (amlodipine), or a thiazide-type diuretic (chlorthalidone). We report stroke outcomes in 1517 participants in-trial and 1596 additional participants during post-trial passive surveillance, for a total follow-up of 8-13 years.

The science upon which to base dietary sodium policy.

Few nutrient intake recommendations become subjects of heated scientific debate, but sodium is 1 of them. In the absence of sufficient clinical trials focused on sodium intake and health outcomes, studies that used the surrogate marker of blood pressure have been used to support extreme sodium reduction. Under tightly controlled conditions, maximum achievable sodium reduction leads to a 1-6 mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure, which presumably leads to reduced cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality.

Pressor response to initial blood pressure monotherapy is associated with cardiovascular mortality.

Background: A paradoxical pressor systolic response to initial antihypertensive monotherapy has been observed in 8% of hypertensive patients. The long-term consequences of this finding are unknown.

Methods: We included 945 hypertensive patients with baseline systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥140mm Hg.