Figure 2. Incidence of Cardiovascular Events According to Category of Office Systolic Blood Pressure.

All blood-pressure values were obtained at the inclusion visit. Among patients in all three categories of office systolic blood pressure, a 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure of 135 mm Hg or higher predicted a higher incidence of cardiovascular events than a 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure of less than 135 mm Hg. The unadjusted relative risk of a cardiovascular event associated with a 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure of 135 mm Hg or higher as compared with a 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure of less than 135 mm Hg was 3.19 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.34 to 7.59) among patients with an office systolic blood pressure of less than 140 mm Hg, 2.09 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.19 to 3.66) among patients with an office systolic blood pressure of 140 to 159 mm Hg, and 2.21 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.33 to 3.68) among patients with an office systolic blood pressure of 160 mm Hg or higher. After adjustment for sex, age, body-mass index, smoking status, presence or absence of diabetes mellitus, serum cholesterol concentration, use or nonuse of lipid-lowering drugs, and presence or absence of cardiovascular complications at entry, the corresponding relative risks were 2.80 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.80 to 9.85), 1.82 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.92 to 3.56), and 2.31 (95 percent confidence interval, 1.26 to 4.22). Numbers above the bars are the number of patients in the specific subgroup with a cardiovascular event over the total number of patients in that subgroup.

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