Chen X, Yang Q, Fang J, et al. - Researchers assessed alterations in left ventricular (LV) strain among older hypertensive patients following 1 year of different systolic blood pressure (SBP) goals, and examined how it influenced myocardial mechanics in this population. They analyzed 313 hypertensive adults aged 60 years or older following 1 year of the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial. Patients were split into the intensive group (target SBP: 110– 130 mmHg) and the standard group (target SBP: 130– 150 mmHg). Experts recorded global longitudinal strain (GLS) of the LV (endocardial, middle, and epicardial layer: GLS-end, GLS-mid, and GLS-epi, respectively) as well as the improvement of GLS at 1 year (ΔGLS-end, ΔGLS-mid, and ΔGLS-epi). A sight improvement in GLS-end was seen at 1 year in the intensive group vs that before the trial. In the intensive group, higher ΔGLS-end and ΔGLS-mid were detected when compared with those in the standard group. Findings indicate that a lower SBP target can result in a slight improvement in myocardial function among older hypertensive patients at 1 year.