Translation of a-t 2020; 51: 47
 

IN BRIEF

HYGIA CHRONOTHERAPY TRIAL RE-EXAMINED

The Hygia chronotherapy study on the time of administration of anti-hypertensive drugs published in October of last year (a-t 2019; 50: 117-9) (1) is being reviewed for both content and conduct. The publishers of the journal announced this in April in an "Expression of Concern". The results and the conclusions of the study should be interpreted with caution until further notice (2). No further details were communicated and we did not receive a response to our inquiry until editorial deadline. According to the Hygia chronotherapy study, taking at least one anti-hypertensive drug in the evening rather than taking all blood pressure medication in the morning as is the standard decreases the relative risk of cardiovascular events and the mortality in patients with hypertension by 45% each (1). The publication was accompanied by an enthusiastic press release from the European Society of Cardiology ("Bed time is the best time to take blood pressure medication") (3). The review of the study is not particularly surprising: the paper is so flawed that we felt the results were implausible back in October of last year and we did not understand how it could be published in a peer reviewed journal. We still feel that there are no consequences for practice arising from the study, -Ed.

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