Proportion and Characteristics of US Adults Who May Be Eligible From Additional Blood Pressure Lowering Based on Absolute Risk.

BACKGROUND: The Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) and the Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation 3 (HOPE-3) trial demonstrated the merits of blood pressure (BP) lowering to reduce cardiovascular events in intermediate to high cardiovascular risk adults. However, the population impact of an absolute risk-based strategy for BP lowering remains unclear. METHODS: We examined 3 treatment thresholds using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. First, the JNC8 guideline was used to determine treatment goals. Second, adults with a systolic BP (SBP) of 130 mm Hg and high cardiovascular risk (based on eligibility for SPRINT) were considered eligible for additional BP lowering. Finally, we combined the treatment threshold for high-risk adults with an SBP treatment threshold of 140 mm Hg for intermediate-risk adults that met the eligibility criteria for HOPE-3. RESULTS: Under the JNC8 guideline, 78.0% of adults ≥50 years were at target while 22.0% were eligible for additional BP lowering. If an SBP treatment threshold of 130 mm Hg was used for adults at high cardiovascular risk, 31.1% would be eligible for additional BP lowering (an increase of 8.1 million). If an SBP threshold of 140 mm Hg was additionally used for adults at intermediate risk, 31.4% of adults would be eligible for BP lowering (an increase of 8.3 million). The proportion of adults eligible for BP lowering with established coronary artery disease decreased with the risk-based strategies. CONCLUSION: An absolute risk treatment strategy would modestly increase the proportion of adults eligible for BP lowering.

Atrial fibrillation as risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death in women compared with men: systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether atrial fibrillation is a stronger risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death in women compared with men. DESIGN: Meta-analysis of cohort studies. DATA SOURCES: Studies published between January 1966 and March 2015, identified through a systematic search of Medline and Embase and review of references. ELIGIBILITY FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Cohort studies with a minimum of 50 participants with and 50 without atrial fibrillation that reported sex specific associations between atrial fibrillation and all cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, stroke, cardiac events (cardiac death and non-fatal myocardial infarction), and heart failure. DATA EXTRACTION: Two independent reviewers extracted study characteristics and maximally adjusted sex specific relative risks. Inverse variance weighted random effects meta-analysis was used to pool sex specific relative risks and their ratio. RESULTS: 30 studies with 4,371,714 participants were identified. Atrial fibrillation was associated with a higher risk of all cause mortality in women (ratio of relative risks for women compared with men 1.12, 95% confidence interval 1.07 to 1.17) and a significantly stronger risk of stroke (1.99, 1.46 to 2.71), cardiovascular mortality (1.93, 1.44 to 2.60), cardiac events (1.55, 1.15 to 2.08), and heart failure (1.16, 1.07 to 1.27). Results were broadly consistent in sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSION: Atrial fibrillation is a stronger risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death in women compared with men, though further research would be needed to determine any causality.