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After some exclusions, 169 severe uncomplicated essential hypertensive patients presenting consecutively were divided into two groups according to their treatment. Of these, 121 had been given longterm treatment containing propranolol (PC group) and forty-eight had been treated with hypotensive agents excluding any beta-receptor-blocker group, the non-beta-receptor-blocker (NBB) group. 2. There were no significant differences in myocardial infarction risk factors between the two groups. 3. After a mean follow-up of 5-25 years, nine of the 121 subjects (7-5%) in the PC group had suffered first infarctions and fifteen of the forty-eight subjects (31%) in the NBB group, a significant difference (P less than 0-01). 4. It was concluded that the presence of propranolol had prevented more or caused fewer infarctions, perhaps a combination of both, than had the older hypotensive agents unsupported by beta-receptor blockade.
I M Stewart (Thu,) studied this question.