New Management Strategies for the Hypertensive Patient – from the Disease to the Patient:

It is well known that hypertension is a strong independent risk factor for coronary and cerebrovascular diseases, as well as for heart failure, atrial fibrillation and chronic renal failure, in both industrialised and developing countries,1 thus substantially contributing to the global burden of disease. Moreover, it is well known that reducing blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive patients is associated with a significant reduction in the rate of cardiovascular complications and decline in renal function.2,3 The association between blood pressure and cardiovascular risk is continuous, without apparent lower threshold, up to the value of 70mmHg, which epidemiologically supports the assumption that the lower the blood pressure, the better the cardiovascular prognosis.2 Today, a remarkable number of antihypertensive drug classes with robust scientific evidence of long-term efficacy and safety are available on the market. The therapeutic arsenal includes many different compounds, such as diuretics, beta-adrenergic receptor blockers, alpha-adrenergic receptor blockers, angiotensinogen-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers and calcium antagonists.2,4 Other drug