Effects of intensive blood pressure lowering on cardiovascular and renal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Guidelines recommend intensive blood pressure (BP) lowering in patients at high risk. While placebo-controlled trials have demonstrated 22% reductions in coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke associated with a 10-mmHg difference in systolic BP, it is unclear if more intensive BP loweri...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lv, J, Neal, B, Ehteshami, P, Ninomiya, T, Woodward, M, Rodgers, A, Wang, H, MacMahon, S, Turnbull, F, Hillis, G, Chalmers, J, Perkovic, V
Format: Journal article
Published: Public Library of Science 2012
_version_ 1797060321554202624
author Lv, J
Neal, B
Ehteshami, P
Ninomiya, T
Woodward, M
Rodgers, A
Wang, H
MacMahon, S
Turnbull, F
Hillis, G
Chalmers, J
Perkovic, V
author_facet Lv, J
Neal, B
Ehteshami, P
Ninomiya, T
Woodward, M
Rodgers, A
Wang, H
MacMahon, S
Turnbull, F
Hillis, G
Chalmers, J
Perkovic, V
author_sort Lv, J
collection OXFORD
description BACKGROUND: Guidelines recommend intensive blood pressure (BP) lowering in patients at high risk. While placebo-controlled trials have demonstrated 22% reductions in coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke associated with a 10-mmHg difference in systolic BP, it is unclear if more intensive BP lowering strategies are associated with greater reductions in risk of CHD and stroke. We did a systematic review to assess the effects of intensive BP lowering on vascular, eye, and renal outcomes. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We systematically searched Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for trials published between 1950 and July 2011. We included trials that randomly assigned individuals to different target BP levels. We identified 15 trials including a total of 37,348 participants. On average there was a 7.5/4.5-mmHg BP difference. Intensive BP lowering achieved relative risk (RR) reductions of 11% for major cardiovascular events (95% CI 1%-21%), 13% for myocardial infarction (0%-25%), 24% for stroke (8%-37%), and 11% for end stage kidney disease (3%-18%). Intensive BP lowering regimens also produced a 10% reduction in the risk of albuminuria (4%-16%), and a trend towards benefit for retinopathy (19%, 0%-34%, p = 0.051) in patients with diabetes. There was no clear effect on cardiovascular or noncardiovascular death. Intensive BP lowering was well tolerated; with serious adverse events uncommon and not significantly increased, except for hypotension (RR 4.16, 95% CI 2.25 to 7.70), which occurred infrequently (0.4% per 100 person-years). CONCLUSIONS: Intensive BP lowering regimens provided greater vascular protection than standard regimens that was proportional to the achieved difference in systolic BP, but did not have any clear impact on the risk of death or serious adverse events. Further trials are required to more clearly define the risks and benefits of BP targets below those currently recommended, given the benefits suggested by the currently available data.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T20:15:29Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:2c0266ab-e449-477a-9b1f-38f4c04db94e
institution University of Oxford
last_indexed 2024-03-06T20:15:29Z
publishDate 2012
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:2c0266ab-e449-477a-9b1f-38f4c04db94e2022-03-26T12:34:24ZEffects of intensive blood pressure lowering on cardiovascular and renal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysisJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:2c0266ab-e449-477a-9b1f-38f4c04db94eSymplectic Elements at OxfordPublic Library of Science2012Lv, JNeal, BEhteshami, PNinomiya, TWoodward, MRodgers, AWang, HMacMahon, STurnbull, FHillis, GChalmers, JPerkovic, VBACKGROUND: Guidelines recommend intensive blood pressure (BP) lowering in patients at high risk. While placebo-controlled trials have demonstrated 22% reductions in coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke associated with a 10-mmHg difference in systolic BP, it is unclear if more intensive BP lowering strategies are associated with greater reductions in risk of CHD and stroke. We did a systematic review to assess the effects of intensive BP lowering on vascular, eye, and renal outcomes. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We systematically searched Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for trials published between 1950 and July 2011. We included trials that randomly assigned individuals to different target BP levels. We identified 15 trials including a total of 37,348 participants. On average there was a 7.5/4.5-mmHg BP difference. Intensive BP lowering achieved relative risk (RR) reductions of 11% for major cardiovascular events (95% CI 1%-21%), 13% for myocardial infarction (0%-25%), 24% for stroke (8%-37%), and 11% for end stage kidney disease (3%-18%). Intensive BP lowering regimens also produced a 10% reduction in the risk of albuminuria (4%-16%), and a trend towards benefit for retinopathy (19%, 0%-34%, p = 0.051) in patients with diabetes. There was no clear effect on cardiovascular or noncardiovascular death. Intensive BP lowering was well tolerated; with serious adverse events uncommon and not significantly increased, except for hypotension (RR 4.16, 95% CI 2.25 to 7.70), which occurred infrequently (0.4% per 100 person-years). CONCLUSIONS: Intensive BP lowering regimens provided greater vascular protection than standard regimens that was proportional to the achieved difference in systolic BP, but did not have any clear impact on the risk of death or serious adverse events. Further trials are required to more clearly define the risks and benefits of BP targets below those currently recommended, given the benefits suggested by the currently available data.
spellingShingle Lv, J
Neal, B
Ehteshami, P
Ninomiya, T
Woodward, M
Rodgers, A
Wang, H
MacMahon, S
Turnbull, F
Hillis, G
Chalmers, J
Perkovic, V
Effects of intensive blood pressure lowering on cardiovascular and renal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title Effects of intensive blood pressure lowering on cardiovascular and renal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title_full Effects of intensive blood pressure lowering on cardiovascular and renal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title_fullStr Effects of intensive blood pressure lowering on cardiovascular and renal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title_full_unstemmed Effects of intensive blood pressure lowering on cardiovascular and renal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title_short Effects of intensive blood pressure lowering on cardiovascular and renal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
title_sort effects of intensive blood pressure lowering on cardiovascular and renal outcomes a systematic review and meta analysis
work_keys_str_mv AT lvj effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT nealb effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT ehteshamip effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT ninomiyat effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT woodwardm effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT rodgersa effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT wangh effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT macmahons effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT turnbullf effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT hillisg effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT chalmersj effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis
AT perkovicv effectsofintensivebloodpressureloweringoncardiovascularandrenaloutcomesasystematicreviewandmetaanalysis