Impact of antihypertensive drugs on the cardiovascular patient.
The impact of antihypertensive drugs has been considerable over the last few decades. Hypertension-associated mortality and morbidity have decreased significantly following the introduction of potent and useful antihypertensive drugs. Against this background, it is disturbing that three recent large-scale studies have shown that morbidity and mortality in treated hypertensive patients are markedly higher than in comparable normotensive subjects. It is conceivable that these findings can be explained to some extent by the fact that the elevated arterial pressure quite frequently is not lowered to strictly normotensive levels. Another aspect of the impact of antihypertensive drugs is that they frequently affect the mood and well-being of the patient. In the early days of antihypertensive therapy, the interference of drugs with the quality of life was considerable. With the drugs available today, negative effects on well-being are much rarer, although still extant. Thus, there is still room for improvement of antihypertensive drugs both in this respect and, more importantly, in achieving a further lowering of hypertension-induced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Hansson
L
L
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D006974:Hypertension, Malignant / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents