Systolic Hypertension in Europe (Syst-Eur) Trial Phase 2: objectives, protocol, and initial progress

Abstract
The Systolic Hypertension in Europe (Syst-Eur) trial proved that blood pressure (BP) lowering therapy starting with nitrendipine reduces the risk of cardiovascular complications in older (60 years) patients with isolated systolic hypertension (systolic BP 160 mm Hg and diastolic BP n = 1682) or active treatment (n = 1824), had decreased by 13.2/5.2 mm Hg and by 4.6/1.6 mm Hg, respectively, so that the between-group BP difference was 1.7 mm Hg systolic (95% Cl: 0.8 to 2.6 mm Hg; P < 0.001) and 0.9 mm hg diastolic (95% cl: 0.4 to 1.5 mm mm hg; P < 0.001). at the beginning of syst-eur 2, the goal bp was reached by 25.4% and 50.6% of the former placebo and active-treatment groups; at the last visit these proportions were 55.9% and 63.1%, respectively. at that moment, 45.9% of the patients were on monotherapy with nitrendipine, 29.3% took nitrendipine in combination with other study drugs. until the end of 2001, bp control of the syst-eur 2 patients will be further improved. cardiovascular complications and adverse events, such as cancer or gastro-intestinal bleeding, will be monitored and validated by blinded experts.

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