Posted as supplied by author.

Coauthors of this letter: Karl Swedberg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, G�teborg, Sweden; Marc Pfeffer, Brigham and Women�s Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Chris Granger, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710-00, USA; Salim Yusuf, Hamilton General Hospital, 237 Burton St. E, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Peter Carson, Washington VAMC, 50 Irving Street NW, Washington, DC 20422, USA; Rob Califf, Duke Clinical Research Institute, PO Box 17969, 2400 Pratt Street, Durham, USA; Ken Dickstein, Cardiology Division, University of Bergen, NO-4003 Stavanger, Norway; Stevo Julius, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Michigan Medical Center 3918 TC, 1500 E Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0500, USA.

Additional references:

w1 Dahlof B, Devereux RB, Kjeldsen SE, Julius S, Beevers G, de Faire U, et al. Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in the losartan intervention for endpoint reduction in hypertension study (LIFE): a randomised trial against atenolol. Lancet 2002;359;995-1003.

w2 Julius S, Kjeldsen SE, Weber M, Brunner HR, Ekman S, Hansson L, et al. Outcomes in hypertensive patients at high cardiovascular risk treated with regimens based on valsartan or amlodipine: the VALUE randomised trial. Lancet 2004;363:2022-31.