title: Effect of intensive versus standard blood pressure lowering on diastolic function in patients with uncontrolled hypertension and diastolic dysfunction.
abstract: Diastolic dysfunction may precede development of heart failure in hypertensive patients. We randomized 228 patients with uncontrolled hypertension, preserved ejection fraction, and diastolic dysfunction to 2 targeted treatment strategies: intensive, with a systolic blood pressure target of <130 mm Hg, or standard, with a systolic blood pressure target of <140 mm Hg, using a combination of valsartan, either 160 or 320 mg, plus amlodipine, either 5 or 10 mg, with other antihypertensive medications as needed. Echocardiographic assessment of diastolic function was performed at baseline and after 24 weeks in a prospective, open-label, blinded end point design. Blood pressure was reduced significantly in both groups, from 161.2+/-13.9/90.1+/-12.0 to 130.8+/-12.3/74.9+/-9.1 mm Hg (P<0.0001) in the intensive arm and from 162.1+/-13.2/93.7+/-12.2 to 137.0+/-12.9/79.6+/-11.0 mm Hg (P<0.0001) in the standard arm (P<0.003 for between-group comparisons). Myocardial relaxation velocity improved from 7.6+/-1.1 to 9.2+/-1.7 cm/s (Delta 1.54+/-1.4 cm/s; P<0.0001) in the intensive arm and from 7.5+/-1.3 to 9.0+/-1.9 cm/s (Delta 1.48+/-1.6 cm/s; P<0.0001) in the standard arm, with no difference between the 2 strategies in the achieved improvement (P=0.58). The degree of improvement in annular relaxation velocity was associated with the extent of systolic blood pressure reduction, and patients with the lowest achieved systolic blood pressure had the highest final diastolic relaxation velocities.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Ssolomon@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Scott D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: Akshay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.forename: Amira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hassanein
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Izzo
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oparil
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lacourciere
authors.forename: Joleen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yodit
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Seifu
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hilkert
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Bertram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pitt
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D054144:Heart Failure, Diastolic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000517:prevention & control; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011336:Probability; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents