Table 1. Baseline characteristics by type of analysis and randomisation group.
| Characteristic |
Type of analysis |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
All participants |
Cohort |
|||
| Old | New | Old | New | |
| Number (%) with characteristic | ||||
| All patients in category | 89 | 94 | 57 | 67 |
| Women | 43 (48.3) | 53 (56.4) | 33 (57.9) | 37 (55.2) |
| Smokers | 6 (6.7) | 1 (1.1) | 1 (1.8) | 1 (1.5) |
| Drinking alcohol | 29 (32.6) | 27 (28.7) | 15 (26.3) | 20 (29.9) |
| Treatment naïve | 64 (71.9) | 64 (68.1) | 39 (68.4) | 43 (64.2) |
| Mean±s.d. of characteristic | ||||
| Age, years | 51.2±8.7 | 51.3±9.3 | 52.1±7.9 | 50.9±9.1 |
| Body mass index, kg m−2 | 28.7±4.6 | 27.6±4.8 | 29.3±4.5 | 27.1±4.4* |
| Sitting measurements of | ||||
| Systolic pressure, mm Hg | 155.9±10.8 | 155.8±12.7 | 157.2±11.3 | 155.0±12.1 |
| Diastolic pressure, mm Hg | 92.9±9.7 | 92.5±10.3 | 94.0±9.6 | 92.0±10.3 |
| Heart rate, beats per min | 74.3±10.1 | 73.2±10.4 | 74.9±10.0 | 72.6±9.3 |
| Standing measurements of | ||||
| Systolic pressure, mm Hg | 156.9±13.8 | 156.6±14.7 | 158.2±14.9 | 155.2±13.2 |
| Diastolic pressure, mm Hg | 97.6±10.0 | 98.8±9.9 | 98.4±10.2 | 98.0±10.0 |
| Heart rate, beats per min | 81.6±12.2 | 80.1±12.3 | 82.2±13.0 | 80.5±9.5 |
| Measurements on blood | ||||
| Haemoglobin, mg dl−1 | 12.9±1.6 | 12.8±1.7 | 12.6±1.7 | 12.8±1.9 |
| Haematocrit, % | 38.9±4.7 | 39.0±5.5 | 38.1±4.9 | 39.0±5.9 |
| Serum creatinine, μmol l−1 | 85.5±24.1 | 86.9±32.8 | 85.5±20.7 | 91.1±36.2 |
| Serum cholesterol, mmol l−1 | 4.9±1.4 | 4.9±1.1 | 4.9±1.2 | 4.8±1.2 |
| Blood glucose, mmol l−1 | 5.1±0.9 | 5.0±0.7 | 5.1±0.9 | 5.0±0.7 |
| ECG Cornell index, mm × msec | 1816±833 | 1817±631 | 1872±850 | 1716±604 |
The analysis of all participants and of the cohort encompasses patients with at least one follow-up visit after randomisation and patients who attended all scheduled visits, respectively. Old and new refer to single-pill combinations of hydrochlorothiazide plus bisoprolol and valsartan plus amlodipine. Measurements of blood pressure are averages of three consecutive readings. In the analysis of all participants, the number of patients with blood samples ranged from 83 to 89 and from 88 to 94 in the old and new drugs groups. In the cohort analysis, these numbers ranged from 52 to 57 and from 61 to 67, respectively. Between-group differences in the baseline characteristics among all patients (P⩾0.06) and among those in the cohort analysis (P⩾0.19) were not significant with the exception of body mass index in the cohort analysis (*P=0.009). To convert creatinine, cholesterol and glucose from mmol l−1 to mg dl−1, divide by 88.4, 0.0259 and 0.0555, respectively.