N S Beckett

Dr N S Beckett, Imperial College, London, UK; n.beckett@imperial.ac.uk

STUDY DESIGN

Design:

randomised placebo controlled trial (Hypertension in the Very Elderly Trial [HYVET]).

Allocation concealment:

{concealed}*.†

Blinding:

blinded (patients, clinicians, and outcome adjudication committee).†

STUDY QUESTION

Setting:

195 centres in Europe, China, Australasia, and Tunisia.

Patients:

3845 patients ⩾80 years of age (mean age 84 y, 60% women) with persistent hypertension (mean sitting blood pressure [BP] 173/91 mm Hg). Exclusion criteria included accelerated or secondary hypertension, haemorrhagic stroke in the past 6 months, heart failure, gout, and dementia.

Intervention:

sustained-release indapamide, 1.5 mg/day, with perindopril, 2 or 4 mg/day, added if needed to reach targets of systolic BP <150 mm Hg and diastolic BP <80 mm Hg (n = 1933) or placebo (n = 1912).

Outcomes:

stroke, …