Blood pressure research awarded Trial of the Year

HYVET named Trial of the Year 2008 - <em>News</em>

By Lucy Goodchild
Thursday 7 May 2009

A trial that showed how lowering the blood pressure of very elderly patients could cut their overall mortality by a fifth and their rate of cardiovascular events by a third has been named Trial of the Year 2008 by Project ImpACT and the Society for Clinical Trials.

The 3,845 patient Hypertension in the Very Elderly Trial (HYVET), which was initiated and coordinated by scientists from Imperial College London, is the largest ever clinical trial to look at the effects of lowering blood pressure solely in those aged 80 and over.

The research showed that the benefits of treatment include a 21 percent reduction in total mortality rate, a 39 percent reduction in stroke mortality rate, a 64 percent reduction in fatal and non-fatal heart failure and a 34 percent reduction in cardiovascular events. Some of these benefits were apparent within the first year of follow-up.

HYVET was co-ordinated by scientists from Imperial College London, working with colleagues around the world. the main trial was funded by both the British Heart Foundation and by the Institut de Recherches Internationales Servier.

Winning this Trial of the Year award means that HYVET has been judged by the Society for Clinical Trials to improve the lot of mankind and provide the basis for a substantial and beneficial change in health care.

Professor Chris Bulpitt from the Department of Care of the Elderly, who led the study, collected the award this week at the conference of the Society for Clinical Trials in Atlanta, Georgia.

In addition to receiving this week’s award, HYVET has also been named Trial of the Year by Medscape.

Here, Professor Bulpitt and his colleagues Dr Ruth Peters and Dr Nigel Beckett talk about the trial and the impact it is having on treatment for elderly patients.

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