Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: Prevention of Hypertension in Patients With Pre-hypertension: PREVER-prevention Study
Brief Summary: The incidence of hypertension in individuals with pre-hypertension was 80% in ten years in a study conducted in Southern Brazil. The effectiveness of non-drug interventions to prevent hypertension is low in the long term. It may be hypothesized that a population-based drug intervention could reduce relevantly the burden of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Diuretics are at least as efficacious as other blood pressure-lowering drugs, are well tolerated, have longer duration of action and the advantage of very low cost to be used in a population intervention. Chlorthalidone is the more efficacious agent. Its main limitation is to induce hypokalemia in a proportion of patients, an adverse effect that can be antagonized by a potassium-sparing diuretic, as amiloride.

A study with this objective is therefore recommendable in Brazil, in order to support a plan of precocious intervention in individuals with pre-hypertension. Such a study was demanded and funded by the Health and Technology Ministries in Brazil.


Options:
A: Inclusion Criteria:

* individuals with 30 to 70 years of age with pre-hypertension

Exclusion Criteria:

* low life expectancy
* other indications for the use of diuretics, such as cardiovascular disease
* intolerance to the study drugs
* pregnancy
B: Inclusion Criteria:

* Aged 80 or older
* Sitting systolic BP 160-199 mmHg AND sitting diastolic BP \< 110 mmHg

Exclusion Criteria:

* Known accelerated hypertension (retinal haemorrhages or exudates or papilloedema).
* Overt clinical congestive heart failure requiring treatment with a diuretic or angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor. Subjects allowed if treated with digoxin only.
* Renal failure (serum creatinine of more than 150 µmol/l).
* Previous documented cerebral or subarachnoid haemorrhage in the last 6 months. (Ischaemic cerebral and cardiac events do not exclude, although the patient must be neurologically and cardiologically stable.)
* Condition expected to severely limit survival, e.g. terminal illness.
* Known secondary hypertension (e.g. renal artery stenosis, chronic renal insufficiency, and endocrine cause).
* Gout.
* Clinical diagnosis of dementia.
* Resident in a nursing home, i.e. where the dependency and care requirements of the patients are such that they require the regular input of qualified nurses and therefore the majority of staff in the home are nurses (other forms of residential care are acceptable).
* Unable to stand up or walk
* Participation in a drug trial within the past month preceding selection.
* Alcohol or drug abuse.
* Less than 2 months placebo run-in.
* Contraindications to use of trial drugs
C: Inclusion Criteria:

* Clinical diagnosis of hypertension, ischemic heart disease and congestive heart failure

Exclusion Criteria:

* Pregnancy
* Severe renal damage
* Severe liver damage
* Acute myocardial infarction
D: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients with essential hypertension

Exclusion Criteria:

* Severe hypertension
* History or evidence of a secondary form of hypertension
* History of myocardial infarction.
* Other protocol-defined inclusion exclusion criteria also apply.

Answer: A