aDivision of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
bDepartment of Cardiology, Ullevaal University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
cDepartment of Medicine, University of Milan-Bicocca, San Gerardo Hospital, Monza-Milan, Italy
dDivision of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, Western Infirmary, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
eNovartis, East Hanover, New Jersey, USA
fNovartis, Basel, Switzerland
gState University of New York, Brooklyn, New York, USA
hHypertension Unit, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain
iDepartment of Endocrinology, La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
jInstitut de Recherches Cliniques de Montreal, Montreal, Canada
kDivision of Medicine and Therapeutics, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, Scotland, UK
lDepartment of Nephrology and hypertension, University Hospital, Erlangen, Germany
mThe Israeli Forum for Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases, Barzilai Hospital, Ashkelon, Israel
nDepartment of Cardiology, Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic
oIstituto Auxologico Italiano, Ospedale Maggiore and Unversity of Milan, Milan, Italy
*Committee members of the Valsartan Antihypertensive Long-term Use Evaluation trial (VALUE) are listed in the Appendix.
Received 19 January, 2006
Revised 1 March, 2006
Accepted 14 March, 2006
Correspondence and requests for reprints to Dr Kjeldsen, Department of Cardiology, Ullevaal Hospital, N-0407 Oslo, Norway
Sponsorship: This work was supported by Novartis.
