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In two large, randomized trials from China, researchers compared systolic blood pressure (BP) targets of <120 mm Hg and <140 mm Hg in patients at high cardiovascular risk; one trial included only patients with diabetes. In both studies, incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events was lower with intensive treatment — by about 1.5 percentage points during 4 years of follow-up. Lower numbers of strokes accounted for most of the differences. Notably in both trials, mean systolic BPs in the intensive-treatment groups were ≈120 mm Hg (and not <120 mm Hg), suggesting that many patients didn't tolerate aggressively pushing systolic BP to lower than 120 mm Hg (NEJM JW Gen Med Dec 15 2024 and N Engl J Med 2024 Nov 16…