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An intensive blood pressure (BP)-lowering treatment strategy led to fewer major cardiovascular events than a standard BP-lowering treatment strategy in patients with type 2 diabetes and an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease in the randomized-controlled BPROAD study.

Prof. Guang Ning, MD, PhD, from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, in China, and his team compared an intensive BP-lowering treatment strategy (i.e. a systolic BP target of <120 mmHg) to the standard BP-lowering treatment strategy (i.e. a systolic BP target of <140 mmHg) among 12,821 participants older than 50 years of age with type 2 diabetes, an increased systolic BP, and an increased risk for cardiovascular disease¹. The primary outcome of the multicenter, open-label, randomized-controlled BPROAD trial (NCT03808311) was a composite of non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, treated or hospitalized heart failure, and cardiovascular death. “The treatment protocol was flexible in terms of the choice and doses of antihypertensive medications,” said Prof. Ning.

The results displayed a swift reduction in systolic BP to a median of 134.3 mmHg in the standard treatment arm and a reduction to a median of 118.0 mmHg in the intensive-treatment arm. These changes were maintained to the end of the study at 4 years of follow-up. Primary outcome events were reported in 2.09% of the participants per year in the standard treatment group and 1.65% of the participants per year in the intensive-treatment group, a significant difference (HR 0.79; 95% CI 0.69–0.90). “The results were consistent across prespecified subgroups,” added Prof. Ning. The authors noted that hyperkaliemia (2.64% vs 2.01%; P=0.003) and symptomatic hypotension (0.12% vs 0.02%; P=0.05) occurred more frequently in the intensive-treatment group than in the standard treatment group.

The BROAD study showed that an intensive BP-lowering treatment strategy reduced the risk for major cardiovascular events in a population of patients with type 2 diabetes and an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease. “Although we must monitor patients for hypotension and hyperkaliemia during the start of intensive BP interventions, future guidelines should consider the results of the BPROAD trial about recommendations of BP treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes,” concluded Prof. Ning.

Medical writing support was provided by Robert van den Heuvel.
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