Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35137952›Full record

SynthesisJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2022

Time to benefit for stroke reduction after blood pressure treatment in older adults: A meta-analysis.

Vanessa S Ho, Irena S Cenzer, Brian T Nguyen, Sei J Lee

Open access · hybridAbstract readMeta-AnalysisReview
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
2.8field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Guideline
  3. Pooled it
  4. Trial
  5. Enrollment of Historically Underrepresented Groups in Peripheral Arterial Disease Trials: A Systematic Review.Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions · 2026
    Review
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Review
  10. Optimal Blood Pressure Targets with Age.Clinics in geriatric medicine · 2024
    Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Vanessa S HoCollege of Medicine, California Northstate University, Elk Grove, California, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3982-4616
Irena S CenzerDivision of Geriatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
Brian T NguyenDivision of Geriatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
Sei J LeeMedical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program, Division of Geriatrics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
San Francisco VA Medical Center · USUniversity of California, San Francisco · US

Funding

VARC CoreP30AG044281 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI Louise C. Walter · 2013 to 2026
$19.9M
UCLA Summer Research Training in Aging for Medical Stud*T35AG026736 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI Cathy Lee, John C Newman · 2005 to 2026
$3.0M
Mentoring Patient-Oriented Research to Individualize Care for Hospitalized Older Adults with and without Alzheimer's Disease and Related DementiasK24AG066998 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI Sei Lee · 2021 to 2026
$1.1M
NIA NIH HHS K24 AG066998NIA NIH HHS P30 AG044281NIA NIH HHS T35 AG026736
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundHypertension treatment in older adults can decrease mortality, cardiovascular events, including heart failure, cognitive impairment, and stroke risk, but may also lead to harms such as syncope and falls. Guidelines recommend targeting preventive interventions with immediate harms and delayed benefits to patients whose life expectancy exceeds the intervention's time to benefit (TTB). Our objective was to estimate a meta-analyzed TTB for stroke prevention after initiation of more intensive hypertension treatment in adults aged ≥65 years.

methodsStudies were identified from two Cochrane systematic reviews and a search of MEDLINE and Google Scholar for subsequent publications until August 31, 2021. We abstracted data from randomized controlled trials comparing standard (untreated, placebo, or less intensive treatment) to more intensive treatment groups in older adults (mean age ≥ 65 years). We fit Weibull survival curves and used a random-effects model to estimate the pooled annual absolute risk reduction (ARR) between control and intervention groups. We applied Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to determine the time to ARR thresholds (0.002, 0.005, and 0.01) for a first stroke.

resultsNine trials (n = 38,779) were identified. The mean age ranged from 66 to 84 years and study follow-up times ranged from 2.0 to 5.8 years. We determined that 1.7 (95%CI: 1.0-2.9) years were required to prevent 1 stroke for 200 persons (ARR = 0.005) receiving more intensive hypertensive treatment. Heterogeneity was found across studies, with those focusing on tighter systolic blood pressure control (SBP < 150 mmHg) showing longer TTB. For example, in the SPRINT study (baseline SBP = 140 mmHg, achieved SBP = 121 mmHg), the TTB to avoid 1 stroke for 200 patients treated was 5.9 years (95%CI: 2.2-13.0).

conclusionsMore intensive hypertension treatment in 200 older adults prevents 1 stroke after 1.7 years. Given the heterogeneity across studies, the TTB estimates from individual studies may be more relevant for clinical decision-making than our summary estimate.

Indexed as

Heart FailureHypertensionStrokeAgedAged, 80 and overAntihypertensive AgentsBlood PressureHumansLife ExpectancyAntihypertensive Agentshypertensionstroketime to benefit

Identifiers

PMID35137952
PMCPMC9106841
OpenAlexW4210844533

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.