High blood pressure, or hypertension, is the most common risk factor for vascular disease, explaining half of the risk of stroke and heart attacks, and affecting half of adults in developed countries. In addition, hypertension is the leading cause of people being on prescribed drugs. So the way we measure and treat blood pressure is crucial.

Read full article

In this week’s BMJ Law and colleagues have undertaken a notable meta-analysis on the use of blood pressure lowering treatments from randomized controlled trials. For the BMJ this is an impressive piece, signalling a potential return to some of the significant research published in the past. For instance, in the early 90s nearly a whole edition of the BMJ was given over to the aspirin triallist collaboration systematic reviews. In those days, all of the report appeared in the print version, whereas today the print version carries a meagre synopsis whilst the pdf downloadable from the web runs to an impressive 19 pages.

Read full article

This week, the Florida Gulf coast played host to the world’s largest meeting of chronic disease epidemiologists. This was the 49th meeting of the American Heart Association Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Conference and is combined with the Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism conference over 5 days.

Read full article