ESC Guidelines on hypertension - several news and different elements

Date: 04 Sep 2007

The 2007 ESH and ESC Guidelines on arterial hypertension contain several new and different elements compared to those issued in 2003. They emphasise the importance of assessing total cardiovascular risk as a fundamentally important guide for adopting proper treatment strategies. There is now good evidence that, in high or very high risk patients, BP threshold and target of treatment should be lower (<140/90 and <130/80 mmHg, respectively) than in individuals at lower risk (>140/90 and <140/90 mmHg).

Guidelines on hypertension

The new guidelines highlight the importance of including subclinical organ damage in risk estimation and that evidence strongly supports the view that a fundamental fraction of the benefit of antihypertensive treatment depends on blood pressure lowering perse, regardless of how it is obtained. In addition, the guidelines indicate conditions in which some drugs (alone or in combination) may provide benefits in addition to those resulting from lowered BP. These include diseases characterised by a high cardiovascular risk, such as end stage renal disease,diabetes and atrial fibrillation.

The 2007 ESH/ESC Guidelines promote the prevention of events, but also the prevention of diseases and protection against organ damage.

By Giuseppe Mancia, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan , Italy

Full Details on the ESC Guidelines on the Management of Arterial Hypertension