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Background—Increased left ventricular (LV) mass predicts an adverse outcome in patients with essential hypertension. The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between changes in LV mass during antihypertensive treatment and subsequent prognosis.

Methods and Results—Procedures including echocardiography and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring were performed in 430 patients with essential hypertension before therapy and after 1217 patient-years. Months or years after the follow-up visit, 31 patients suffered a first cardiovascular morbid event. The patients with a decrease in LV mass from the baseline to follow-up visit were compared with those with an increase in LV mass. There were 15 events (1.78 per 100 person-years) in the group with a decrease in LV mass and 16 events (3.03 per 100 person-years) in the group with an increase in LV mass (P=.029). In a Cox …