Herrett E, Gadd S, Jackson R, et al. - Via performing a retrospective cohort study that included a sample of over 1.2 million primary care patients aged 30–79 years without cardiovascular disease, researchers examined the implications of alternative strategies for offering blood pressure treatment, using the United Kingdom as an explanatory example. Cardiovascular disease was diagnosed in 32,183 patients during follow-up. Under the 2011 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline, the proposed 2019 NICE guideline, on the basis of a blood pressure threshold of ≥ 140/90 mmHg, and on the basis of a QRISK2 threshold of ≥ 10%, a total of 22.2%, 26.8%, 39.4%, and 29.3% of patients were eligible for treatment, respectively. Cardiovascular event rates in patients eligible for each strategy were 15.2 per 1,000 person-years, 14.9, 11.4, and 16.9, under the 2011 NICE guideline, the proposed 2019 NICE guideline, with blood pressure threshold alone, and with QRISK2 threshold alone, respectively. Under the 2011 NICE guideline, the 2019 NICE guideline, blood pressure threshold, and QRISK2 threshold, the investigators estimated that 233,152, 270,233, 301,523, and 322,921 events would be avoided, when scaled to the UK population. Overall, they noted that a cardiovascular risk-based strategy (QRISK2 ≥ 10%) could prevent more than one-third more of cardiovascular disease events in comparison with the 2011 NCIE guideline, and one-fifth more than the 2019 NICE guideline, with comparable efficacy with respect to the number treated per event avoided.