Figure 1

Flow diagram of the study participants. The blood pressure was measured at six time points (6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months after randomization) and was used to determine the mean, maximum and minimum, and intra-individual visit-to-visit variability of systolic and diastolic BPs. After excluding patients who had experienced any cardiovascular events within 18 months after randomization and patients with missing BP values from 3 or more of the 6 time points, 2983 patients were eligible for enrollment in the present study. ARB, angiotensin receptor blocker; BP, blood pressure; COPE, Combination Therapy of Hypertension to Prevent Cardiovascular Events.