Treating patients to lower than st and ard BP targets , < /=140 - 160/90 - 100 mmHg , does not reduce mortality or morbidity .
BACKGROUND When treating elevated blood pressure , doctors need to know what blood pressure ( BP ) target they should try to achieve .
The st and ard of clinical practice for some time has been < /= 140 - 160/ 90 - 100 mmHg .
New guidelines are recommending BP targets lower than this st and ard .
It is not known whether attempting to achieve targets lower than the st and ard reduces mortality and morbidity .
OBJECTIVES To determine if lower BP targets ( < /= 135/85 mmHg ) are associated with reduction in mortality and morbidity as compared with st and ard BP targets ( < /= 140 - 160/ 90 - 100 mmHg ) .
Prospective randomized open blinded end-point (PROBE) study. A novel design for intervention trials. Prospective Randomized Open Blinded End-Point.
A novel design for intervention studies is presented , the so called PROBE study ( Prospect i ve R and omized Open , Blinded End-point ) . This design is compared to the classical double-blind design . Among the advantages of the PROBE design are lower cost and greater similarity to st and ard clinical practice , which should make the results more easily applicable in routine medical care . Since end-points are evaluated by a blinded end-point committee it is obvious that there should be no difference between the two types of trials in this regard
Treating patients to lower than st and ard BP targets , < /=140 - 160/90 - 100 mmHg , does not reduce mortality or morbidity .
BACKGROUND When treating elevated blood pressure , doctors need to know what blood pressure ( BP ) target they should try to achieve .
The st and ard of clinical practice for some time has been < /= 140 - 160/ 90 - 100 mmHg .
New guidelines are recommending BP targets lower than this st and ard .
It is not known whether attempting to achieve targets lower than the st and ard reduces mortality and morbidity .
OBJECTIVES To determine if lower BP targets ( < /= 135/85 mmHg ) are associated with reduction in mortality and morbidity as compared with st and ard BP targets ( < /= 140 - 160/ 90 - 100 mmHg ) .