This was a large trial which aimed to determine if treatment with valsartan would be superior to amlodipine-based treatment for the primary composite endpoint of cardiac morbidity and mortality. This trial enrolled paitents at least 50 years old with hypertension. It was a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, prospective clinical trial which enrolled 12,570 patietns. Patients were either randomized to amlodipine-based antihypertenensive therapy or to valsartan-based antihypertnesive therapy. HCTZ and other medications were added as needed to achieve a target of <140/90mmHg. Patients were followed for 30 months. Interestingly, the trial authors seemed to jettison the primary outcome intent of the trial and only report on how well BP was controlled and how their algorithm for HTN management was benefiticial in the office setting. This is strange. The academic community must have thought the same as The VALUE Trial has only been cited in thirteen PubMed Central papers. Despite the name, the VALUE Trial added little value to the academic literature. The primary outcome was not different between the two groups. BP control was achieved in both groups, but BP was slightly lower in the amlodipine-based group.
The VALUE Trial: Julius, S., Kjeldsen, S. E., Brunner, H., Hansson, L., Platt, F., Ekman, S., ... & Weber, M. (2003). VALUE trial: Long-term blood pressure trends in 13,449 patients with hypertension and high cardiovascular risk. American journal of hypertension, 16(7), 544-548.
The VALUE Trial PMID: 12850387