Via practica 7-8/2009

New recommendations for the treatment of arterial hypertension

During past decades pharmacotherapy of arterial hypertension underwent significant development. New guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension defined several categories according to the blood pressure levels and blood pressure therapy goals too. Pharmacotherapy of hypertension is guided either by blood pressure level, or the presence of associated clinical condition, the severity of target organ damage and the total cardiovascular risk. The efficacy of the treatment on cardiovascular mortality and morbidity is based on the effect on blood pressure lowering. Effective decrease of blood pressure is provided by: thiazide diuretics, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers. These drugs represent the treatment of choice either for monotherapy, or for the combination. Choice of the treatment drug group depends on the type of the associated clinical condition.

Keywords: arterial hypertension, pharmacotherapy, guidelines, target values, cardiovascular risk