Intensive versus standard blood pressure treatment improves cardiovascular outcomes without any difference in patient-reported outcomes

The Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) was a large, multicentre, randomised controlled trial (RCT) originally reported in 2015.1 The trial randomly assigned 9361 individuals with hypertension at high risk of cardiovascular disease (but without diabetes or stroke) to intensive blood pressure (BP) control (systolic BP less than 120 mm Hg) or standard BP control (systolic BP less than 140 mm Hg). There was a significant reduction in cardiovascular events and mortality in the intensive treatment group and the trial was stopped early. The original trial reported a doubling of treatment-related serious adverse events including symptomatic hypotension, syncope and acute kidney injury in the intensive treatment group. This follow-on analysis presents the patient-reported outcomes of physical and mental health, and patient-reported adherence to treatment