Table 1. Description of included studies.

First Author, Year	Study design	Agent (number of participants)	Type of control (number of controls)	Dosage (SD)	Device	Mean Follow up duration in months
						Intevention	Control
Beta blockers
Lindholt [21] 1999	RCT	Propanolol (30)	Placebo (24)	40 mg/bid	US	24	24
PATI [22] 2002	RCT	Propanolol (276)	Placebo (272)	20–240 mg/d	US	30	30
Wilmink [33] 2000	RCT	Propanolol (256)	No propanolol (221)	40 mg/d	US†	34‡	33‡
Wilmink [23] 2002	Cohort†	Beta blockers* (77)	No Beta blockers (255)	NR	US	48	48
Lindholt [24] 2001	Cohort	Beta blockers* (25)	No Beta blockers (112)	NR	US	28	28
Gadowski [25] 1994	Cohort	Propanolol (21), Atenolol (10), Metoprolol (7)	No Beta blockers (83)	Propanolol 92 mg/d (38), Atenolol 68 mg/d (30), Metoprolol 80 mg/d (21)	US	43	43
Leach [26] 1988	Cohort	Propanolol (6), Selective beta blockers* (6)	No Beta blockers (15)	Propanolol 20–80 mg/d	US	27	38
Biancari [27] 2002	Cohort	Beta blockers* (17)	No Beta blockers (24)	NR	US	87	87
Other antihypertensive agents
Wilmink [23] 2002	Cohort†	Diuretics* (54)	No Diuretics (278)	NR	US	48	48
Wilmink [23] 2002	Cohort†	ACE inhibitors* (24)	No ACE inhibitors (308)	NR	US	48	48
Wilmink [23] 2002	Cohort†	Ca channel blockers* (48)	No Ca channel blockers (284)	NR	US	48	48
Brady [34] 2004	Cohort	Antihypertensive* (932)	No Antihypertensive (765)	NR	US	NR	NR
Antibiotics
Mosorin [28] 2001	RCT	Doxycycline (17)	Placebo (15)	150 mg/d	US	18	18
Vammen [29] 2001	RCT	Roxithromycin (40)	Placebo (44)	300 mg/d	US	18	18
Anti-inflammatory agents
Schouten [30] 2006	Cohort	Simvastatin (24), Atorvastatin (19), Fluvastatin (11), Pravastatin (5)	No Statins (91)	NR	US	34	38
Sukhija [31] 2006	Cohort	Simvastatin (31), Atorvastatin (44)	No Statins (55)	20–80 mg/d	CT	23	24
Walton [32] 1999	Cohort	NSAID* (15)	No NSAID (63)	NR	US	>12	>12

^*Without precision

^†Same cohort study

^‡Data provided directly by the authors

NR Not reported