According to a study published in the ‘New England Journal of Medicine’, intensive treatment of high blood pressure in older individuals with a target systolic blood pressure of less than 130 mm Hg, significantly decreased cardiovascular risk when compared to standard treatment.

The study included 8511 hypertensive patients between 60 to 80 years of age who were randomly assigned to the intensive treatment group and standard treatment group to determine appropriate systolic blood pressure target which aids in reducing cardiovascular risk.

The key results were as follows:

• After a 1 year follow-up, the intensive treatment group showed a mean systolic blood pressure of 127.5 mm Hg and the standard treatment group showed 135.3 mm Hg.
• After a median follow up of 3.34 years, lower incidence of cardiovascular events was observed in the intensive treatment group when compared to the standard treatment group.
• Safety profile and renal outcomes showed no significant differences between both the groups.

In conclusion, intensive high blood pressure treatment with a target of less than 130 mm Hg systolic pressure is more effective in lowering the incidence of cardiovascular events, when compared to a standard treatment with a target systolic blood pressure of less than 150 mm Hg.