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Blocking the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system or lowering the blood pressure: does EUROPA help?

Department of Medicine, Hillingdon Hospital, Pield Heath Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3NN, UK, judyasever{at}aol.com

The EUropean trial on Reduction Of cardiac events with Perindopril in stable coronary Artery disease (EUROPA) demonstrated that the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, perindopril, compared with placebo, in patients with established coronary artery disease, reduced cardiovascular endpoints by 20% over a four-year follow-up period. Although the authors of this study claim that the risk reduction was best explained by blockade of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, reference to recent meta-analyses of blood pressure (BP)-lowering trials provides compelling evidence that the benefits observed in the trial could be explained by the 5/2 mmHg BP difference between active and placebo treatments.

Key Words: EUROPA • ACE inhibitors • coronary heart disease

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Journal of Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System, Vol. 4, No. 4, 205-206 (2003)
DOI: 10.3317/jraas.2003.033


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Mackay, J. A Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Mackay, J. A Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH Medline Plus Health Information Blood Pressure Medicines Social Bookmarking                         What's this?