2020 in a nutshell: The hottest developments in the field of cardiology this year. Section 1. General and preventive cardiology

2. BPLTTC (Blood Pressure Lowering Treatment Trialists Collaboration) trialBlood pressure medication can prevent heart attacks and strokes—even in people with normal blood pressure.

Debate continues over whether pharmacological blood pressure lowering is equally beneficial in people with, vs. without, a prior heart attack or stroke, and when blood pressure is below the threshold for hypertension (typically 140/90 mmHg). The BPLTTC study set out to examine these questions in detail with researchers combining data on 348 854 individuals who had participated in a randomized clinical trial and conducting a meta-analysis.Participants were divided into two groups: those with a prior diagnosis of cardiovascular disease and those without. Each group was divided into seven subgroups based on systolic blood pressure at study entry (less than 120, 120-129, 130-139, 140-149, 150-159, 160-169, 170 and above mmHg).Over an average four years of follow-up, each 5 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure lowered the relative risk of major cardiovascular events by about 10%. The risks for stroke, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure and death from cardiovascular disease were reduced by 13%, 7% and 14% and 5%, respectively.