What is the relationship between BP and risk of cardiovascular events?
Observational studies in the general population provide strong evidence of a linear relationship between BP and risk of cardiovascular events. A large number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have also shown that drugs that reduce BP also reduce the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events. Benefits of BP reduction observed in clinical trials involving high-risk patients have also been shown to be consistent across a range of baseline BP levels in recent, large meta-analyses. Furthermore, baseline BP levels have been shown to be a powerful determinant of the subsequent risk of kidney failure in large population-based studies from around the world. Diabetes increases the risk of CVD by a factor of two to three at every level of systolic BP, and this risk is further potentiated by the presence of chronic kidney disease (CKD).