Abstract 14276: 30-Year Survival in the Active and Placebo Groups of the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program

Introduction: There are scant data on differences in survival between clinical trial participants compared to individuals who do not volunteer to participate in such studies. In addition, quantitative studies of the benefits of antihypertensive therapy on extending survival have not been reported. The 30-year follow-up data from the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (SHEP) were used to address these questions. Methods: SHEP was a randomized, placebo controlled clinical trial of chlorthalidone-based antihypertensive therapy in patients with isolated systolic hypertension (systolic blood pressure >160 and diastolic blood pressure <90). At 4.5 years there was a significant decrease in the rates of stroke, heart failure and coronary heart disease, but no effect on mortality. We used the National Death Index to study survival of SHEP participants for up to 30 years from randomization compared to actuarial controls i.e. persons of the same gender and race who were alive when each SHEP participant was...