No, A Big NIH Trial Did Not Show That Lowering Blood Pressure Will Prevent Dementia

It’s “breakthrough” time again. News reports out of the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) this week have been relentlessly upbeat and positive about findings from the NIH’s SPRINT MIND study. The message: aggressive blood pressure control can help protect the brain. But unless you look very carefully at the news reports and “expert” statements you won’t…

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The Survey Says: BP Measurement In SPRINT Was All Over The Place

–BP measurement question limits the trial’s ability to inform clinical practice. A long-promised report from the SPRINT investigators offers important new information about how blood pressure was monitored in the trial. The report is unlikely to satisfy critics or resolve the larger controversy of how the trial should be interpreted. At the American Heart Association…

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New Blood Pressure Guideline Sets Lower 130/80 Threshold

Expanded guideline means more than 100 million people have high blood pressure. The new US blood pressure guideline lowers the definition of high blood pressure to 130/80 mm Hg. This means that more than 100 million adults will now have high blood pressure, though many will be unaware of the diagnosis. The 192 page guideline…

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Upcoming US Guideline Will Likely Set 130/80 As New Blood Pressure Target

–The highly anticipated AHA/ACC BP guideline will be published in November. The new magic number will be 130 over 80 mm Hg. That’s the new blood pressure goal that many hypertension experts say will be the centerpiece of the new US blood pressure guidelines. The new guideline will be introduced next month in Anaheim during the…

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SPRINT Substudy Detects Mortality Signal

–Aggressive blood pressure lowering may sometimes be deadly. BARCELONA — A new examination of data from the SPRINT trial raises the fear that adopting the aggressive blood pressure target of 120 mm Hg in some hypertensive patients with baseline BP of 160 mm Hg or more may increase the risk of death. Tzung-Dau Wang, MD,…

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Aggressive BP Targets Will Hike Falling Risk in Older Patients

–Another paper raises new questions about applying SPRINT in the real world Applying the intense blood pressure goals used in SPRINT in a real world elderly population might lead to a dramatic increase in injurious falls, according to a new study from Ireland published in JAMA Internal Medicine. The Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT)…

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New Review Supports Aggressive BP Targets

–Meta-analysis supports a systolic blood pressure target of 120 mm Hg A new systematic review and network meta-analysis lends support to more aggressive blood pressure targets. In recent years US guidelines have recommended more relaxed systolic blood pressure targets, ranging from 140 mm Hg to 150 mm Hg, for people with hypertension. But the results…

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Principal Investigator Defends SPRINT Against Critics

–Blood pressure experts disagree about the NIH ‘Landmark’ Trial. Since the first announcement of its preliminary results the SPRINT trial has been the focus of intense controversy. One major focus of contention revolves around the precise technique used to measure blood pressure in the trial. As in all recent large outcome trials in hypertension, blood…

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Can SPRINT Be Used To Inform Hypertension Treatment?

–The landmark trial results are not easy to apply to clinical practice. Since the first breathless announcement of its preliminary results, SPRINT trial has been viewed as a landmark trial serving to establish a more aggressive approach to blood pressure management. It is now becoming increasingly clear, however, that the application of SPRINT in the…

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New Questions Raised About SPRINT

More questions are being raised about SPRINT, the enormous NIH-funded blood pressure lowering trial. Two recent developments will likely add more obstacles to the already difficult task of applying the results of the trial in the real world. Even before the full results of the trial were first made public the NIH and the SPRINT…

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SPRINTing to Lower BP Targets? Not So Fast

–Hypertension experts disagree about how to apply SPRINT results in the real world.  Once again blood pressure experts are disagreeing about how to interpret SPRINT and how its results should be applied in the real world. A new study claims that applying the SPRINT results to US patients who meet SPRINT criteria would prevent more…

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SPRINT: More Controversy And Confusion About ‘Landmark’ Trial

–Blood pressure experts raise new questions and concerns about the controversial trial. More questions and concerns are being raised about SPRINT, the NIH’s “landmark” blood pressure lowering trial. In sharp contrast to the enormous amount of initial hype, many hypertension experts are now saying that the SPRINT trial is difficult to interpret and can’t be readily…

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Cardiologists: Thumbs Down To SPRINT

[Updated, August 29, August 30] –SPRINT should not be used in guidelines to lower blood pressure targets. Should the SPRINT trial be used by guideline committees to lower systolic blood pressure targets? After listening to a high-powered debate at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Rome on Sunday, most audience members gave thumbs down…

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How Does HOPE-3 Change Thinking About Primary Prevention?

–The study lends strong support for statins but delivers a mixed message for antihypertensives. The widely reported results of HOPE-3 may bolster the case for primary prevention with statins and blood pressure drugs. But the trial also makes clear that the benefits, though real, are also modest, and may not be evenly distributed between statins…

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Slow Down. Don’t Sprint To More Aggressive BP Treatment

Two editorialists in Annals of Internal Medicine urge caution in interpreting and adopting the findings of the SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial), which last year  showed a benefit for a more aggressive approach to blood pressure therapy. The trial found improved outcomes in  high risk patients treated to a target of of 120 mm…

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Meta-Analysis Gives More Support To Aggressive Blood Pressure Treatment

A large new meta-analysis offers fresh support to the growing movement in favor of more aggressive treatment to lower high blood pressure. The findings are consistent with and extend the results of the recently reported NIH SPRINT trial, which found substantial clinical benefits for a systolic blood pressure target of 120 mm Hg instead of 140…

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SPRINT Will Change But Not Revolutionize Blood Pressure Treatment

After all the hype and hoopla it turns out that the SPRINT trial  will in all likelihood really have a significant impact on clinical practice and future guidelines, but it also also seems clear that it will not bring about a revolution, as some have recently speculated, in the treatment of high blood pressure. That’s the broad  consensus emerging from hypertension…

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Lancet Sprints To The Front With A Blood Pressure Meta-Analysis

A new meta-analysis published in the Lancet on Friday lends fresh support to calls for more intensive blood pressure treatments. The publication comes only days before the highly anticipated presentation of the NIH’s SPRINT trial at the American Heart Association, which is also expected to offer support for stricter blood pressure control. Blood pressure goals were relaxed after the ACCORD…

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You Don’t Know It But The Debate About SPRINT Is Already Over

On Monday you’re going to hear a lot– an awful lot– about SPRINT. That’s the big NIH blood pressure trial which was stopped early. On September 11 an NIH press release trumpeted the positive results without revealing most of the important details. This Monday, finally, the results are scheduled to be presented at the American Heart…

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Coming Attraction: Looking Forward To SPRINT At The AHA Next Month

Back in September the NIH tantalized the medical community with a preliminary announcement of the results of a major clinical trial, SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial). The NIH said SPRINT was a “landmark trial” that could “save lives,” but their claims were impossible to evaluate since they only gave the slightest hint of the actual results. On November…

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Heart Failure Experts SPRINT To An Early Finish

According to a recent news report a group of prominent heart failure doctors  have eagerly embraced a lower blood pressure target of 120 mm Hg for heart failure patients based on the preliminary results of the SPRINT trial announced last month. But another equally prominent heart failure doctor says that it is far too early to…

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SPRINT Trial To Be Presented At The American Heart Association Meeting In November

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…

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A Premature SPRINT To The Finish Line

On Friday the NHLBI declared victory in the SPRINT trial. As was widely reported here and elsewhere, the NHLBI announced that the trial had been stopped early after significant reductions in cardiovascular events and mortality had occurred in the group of hypertensive patients randomized to a  more aggressive blood pressure target than is currently recommended today. But there was a…

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NIH Trial, Stopped Early, Supports More Intensive Blood Pressure Targets

More stringent blood pressure targets could save lives and reduce cardiovascular events, according to preliminary results from a large NIH clinical trial that was stopped early. The 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…

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