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Antihypertensive drugs are used widely in patients who have cardiovascular disease (CVD) but not hypertension. In this meta-analysis of 25 randomized trials of antihypertensive medications, researchers examined data for 64,162 nonhypertensive patients (mean age range, 55–68; mean follow-up, 1.5–63.0 months). Participants in 23 studies met criteria for CVD, such as recent myocardial infarction (MI) or congestive heart failure (CHF). In two studies, patients had only multiple CVD risk factors.
Pooled relative risk reductions for patients with known CVD were 23% for stroke, 20% for MI, 29% for CHF events, 17% for CVD-related mortality, and 13% for all-cause mortality. The absolute risk reduction per 1000 people ranged from 43.6 for CHF events t…