Clarity for Clinical Practice
نویسندگان
چکیده
A series of articles1–4 published recently in The Lancet and Lancet Neurology raise an interesting issue that has implications for both the clinical management of hypertension and future research in hypertension, particularly in the development and use of different classes of blood pressure (BP)–lowering drugs. These studies, which were led by Peter Rothwell at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, United Kingdom, suggest that, whereas there is undoubted and well-proven benefit in the current practice of reducing mean BP to prevent cardiovascular events, there may be additional benefit in also reducing BP variability (BPV), especially to prevent stroke. The studies suggest, moreover, that different classes of drugs are superior to others in reducing BPV (calcium channel blockers being best and the -blocker atenolol being worst). However, these articles, by virtue of their sheer volume ( 50 pages of printed text and many pages of supplementary web appendix data), could overwhelm all but the most stoic readers, and misinterpretation of the data could lead to confusion and have an adverse effect on clinical practice. It is important, therefore, to assess the scientific reality and determine how attention to BPV might benefit patients with hypertension.
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