[Systolic hypertension in the elderly: Chinese trial (Syst-China)--second interim report]

Abstract

Two thousand and one hundred thirty elderly isolated systolic hypertensive patients entered the multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial (1110 in the active treatment group and 1020 on placebo). The differences of ages, height, weight, sex constituent and baseline blood pressure between active treatment and placebo groups yielded no significance. In the 3.2 years (median) followup, the systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the active treatment differed from those in the placebo and the former were lower than the latter (P < 0.05). The prevalence of side effects or symptoms were greater in the placebo group than in the active treatment group. The present trial is in progress and the final results will not be reported until the end of the trial.