Update: I have now received confirmation that SPRINT will be presented on Monday, November 9 at 2 PM.
The SPRINT trial, which provoked a storm of excitement and controversy a few weeks ago, will be presented in November at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando.
The trial is not currently on the list of late-breaking clinical trials but I have it on good authority from two sources that the trial will be presented during the meeting.
Preliminary results from the NIH-sponsored trial were presented at a press conference on September 11. As I reported then, SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial) trial randomized 9,361 hypertensive patients 50 years of age or older to the standard systolic blood pressure target (when the trial began) of 140 mm Hg or lower or the more intensive target of 120 mm Hg or lower. The primary endpoint was the first occurrence of MI, ACS, stroke, heart failure, or cardiovascular death.
In a press release the NIH said that the lower target “reduced rates of cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and heart failure, as well as stroke, by almost a third and the risk of death by almost a quarter, as compared to the target systolic pressure of 140 mm Hg.” During the NHLBI press conference on Friday morning trial investigator Jackson Wright said that the primary endpoint was lowered by 30% and that all cause mortality was lowered by nearly a quarter. The NHLBI declined to reveal any details about the absolute level of risk or risk reduction in the trial.
Blood pressure targets have been the subject of intense disagreement in recent years. The decision to release some of the SPRINT results provoked a fair amount of criticism from myself and others.
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