How Effective Is Treatment of Hypertension (Pharmacological or Nonpharmacological) in Reducing Cardiovascular Disease Events and Mortality?
Treatment for hypertension has traditionally been defined as pharmacological or nonpharmacological therapy to reduce blood pressure. Recent trials have shown, however, that the ability of a pharmacological treatment to reduce undesirable cardiovascular outcomes may not correspond directly to its ability to lower blood pressure.29,30 We therefore separate our reviews of pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapies and focus on the efficacy of these therapies in reducing CVD events (e.g., heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, and sudden death). When CVD outcomes were unavailable, we considered the effect of the intervention on blood pressure levels. Here we focus on the results of several recent high quality systematic reviews that summarize the evidence on therapy for hypertension.
