[SYST-EUR: a multicenter trial of treatment of systolic hypertension in aged subjects. An initial report]

Syst-Eur is a multicentre placebo-controlled outcome trial, designed by the European Working Party on High Blood Pressure in the Elderly (EWPHE), to investigate the effect of antihypertensive treatment on the incidence of stroke in elderly patients with isolated systolic hypertension (ISH). Eligible patients must be at least 60 years old and have a systolic blood pressure averaging 160-219 mmHg with a diastolic blood pressure less than 95 mmHg. The present paper in an interim report on the first 316 patients randomized into this trial