VALUE
Monotherapy in VALUE:
Similar outcome reductions to main study, effect larger

Prof. S. Julius, USA

Three post-hoc analyses were performed to determine whether the difference in achieved blood pressure in the main VALUE trial, reported 1 year ago, affected outcomes or whether there are pharmacologic differences between the study drugs valsartan and amlodipine in this patient population. The analyses evaluated outcomes in the 7080 patients in VALUE who were on monotherapy at 6 months; the mean duration of monotherapy was 3.06 years. Prof. Stevo Julius (University of Michigan, USA) reported the monotherapy results at the 15th European Meeting on Hypertension held in Milan, June 17-21.

Clinical Trials
ALLHAT outcomes the same regardless of metabolic syndrome status and drug treatment

A retrospective analysis of the ALLHAT database showed that the presence or absence of the metabolic syndrome at baseline did not affect outcomes, regardless of treatment with the ACE inhibitor lisinopril, the calcium antagonist amlodipine, or the diuretic chlorthalidone. New-onset diabetes was more likely with the diuretic.

Clinical Trials
Office blood pressure predictive beyond ambulatory blood pressure in OvA subanalysis

A 1 SD mmHg increase in office blood pressure, independent of ambulatory blood pressure, predicted cardiovascular events in treated hypertensive patients, in a new subanalysis of the Office versus Ambulatory (OvA) blood pressure study. This analysis was reported by Dr. DeBuyzere from the University of Ghent in Belgium at the 15th European Meeting of Hypertension in Milan. The previously reported main results of the OvA study showed that ambulatory blood pressures were prognostic for cardiovascular events, even after adjustment for classic risk factors.