Achieved systolic blood pressure and cardiovascular outcomes in 60–80-year-old patients: the Strategy of Blood Pressure Intervention in the Elderly Hypertensive Patients (STEP) trial

AIMS: Intensive systolic blood pressure (SBP) lowering has been increasingly used; however, data is missing on patients who had target-achieved (TA). This study aims to show the cardiovascular effect of maintaining SBP at intensive levels. METHODS: The Strategy of Blood Pressure Intervention in Elderly Hypertensive Patients (STEP) trial was a multicentre, randomized, controlled trial which enrolled 8511 young-older (60-80 years) hypertensive patients without prior stroke to compare the cardiovascular prognosis of the intensive treatment (SBP target, 110 to <130 mmHg) vs. the standard treatment (130 to <150 mmHg). This secondary analysis assessed data in patients who achieved a mean SBP within target values. The association of mean achieved SBP and cardiovascular events was examined using a cubic spline function. RESULTS: In total, 3053 patients (72.0%) in the intensive-treatment group and 3427 (80.3%) in the standard-treatment group had an SBP target achieved, with mean follow-up SBP values of 124.2 mmHg and 137.4 mmHg, respectively. Throughout the median 3.38-year follow-up, the cardiovascular risk was significantly lower in the TA intensive-treatment group than in the TA standard-treatment group adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 0.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.46-0.80; P < 0.001. In the intensive-treatment group, patients failing to achieve SBP targets presented higher cardiovascular risk than those TA patients (HR 2.04, 95% CI 1.44-2.88; P < 0.001). A J-shaped relationship was observed between the mean achieved SBP and risk of cardiovascular events, with the lowest risk at an SBP of 126.9 mmHg. CONCLUSIONS: Maintaining SBP at <130 mmHg offers additional cardiovascular benefits among young-older patients with hypertension. REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03015311.