What are the reasons for not providing a separate target for diastolic blood pressure (DBP) alongside the targeted systolic blood pressure (SBP) of <120 mm Hg?
The reasons for not providing a separate target for DBP alongside the targeted SBP <120 mm Hg are two-fold. Firstly, for young patients with diastolic hypertension, it is essential to target DBP. This is because a number of earlier trials in the general population (e.g., ALLHAT) had explicit DBP as an inclusion criterion. Secondly, literature on RCTs targeting DBP with clinical outcomes is scarce, especially in the CKD population. Both MDRD and AASK studies employed a target MAP of <92 mm Hg, instead of an SBP and a DBP target, in the intensive BP arm, which is often considered equivalent to 125/75 mm Hg, but it is also gures, depending on the pulse pressure.