Management of hypertension

Despite widespread increasing awareness, hypertension remains one of the most common preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in developed and developing countries. Very recently published data have revolutionized our approach to the management of hypertension. The added value of careful global risk assessment, and aggressive management of risk factors beyond blood pressure in high risk hypertensive patients is now well established. Recent large trials and meta-analyses have strongly challenged the role of β-blockers as first line antihypertensive agents in subjects without coronary disease or heart failure. Consequently, even recently published guidelines are undergoing early revision. In this brief article, we review these guidelines and reflect on the impact of the key emerging data on contemporary clinical practice.