Rationalizing the treatment of hypertension

Management of hypertension in this country is confounded by continual chang es in recommended target blood pressure (BP) goals and a nonhomogeneous pat ient population who have a variety of demographic and clinical characterist ics that influence treatment. This paper focuses on three major elements in managing hypertension: BP and the importance of reducing it to acceptably low levels; concomitant risk factors or cardiovascular and renal target inv olvement; and drug therapy that may confer prognostic advantages beyond tho se predicted by BP effects. Am J Hypertens 2001;14:3S-7S (C) 2001 American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd.