In cardiovascular research, what outcome measure is typically considered a clinical endpoint?

In cardiovascular research, a clinical endpoint is defined as a direct measure of how a patient feels, functions, or survives, particularly in the context of treatment outcomes. Patient survival is the most definitive clinical endpoint, as it reflects the ultimate effectiveness of a therapeutic intervention in improving the health of individuals and reducing mortality rates.

Measuring survival provides meaningful information about the impact of cardiovascular therapies on a patient's life expectancy, thereby allowing for assessment of long-term outcomes that are directly relevant to patient care. Other measures, such as blood pressure levels, quality of life assessments, and laboratory test results, serve as important indicators of health and may help guide treatment decisions, but they do not directly represent whether a patient lives or dies. This makes patient survival the gold standard for evaluating the efficacy of treatments in clinical studies, particularly in the field of cardiology.