title: Present and future role of combination treatment in hypertension.
abstract: Both in clinical practice and in drug trials, combination treatment of hypertension plays a fundamental role. This article reviews the features that make combined therapy with two drugs valuable, i.e., additive antihypertensive efficacy, different mechanisms of action, and reciprocal side-effect minimization. Also examined are the advantages and disadvantages of a fixed combination, emphasizing that a major advantage is simplification of the treatment schedule. This is clinically relevant because complexity of treatment negatively affects patient compliance, which in hypertensive patients is poor, leading to poor long-term blood pressure control in the hypertensive fraction of the population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mancia
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Failla
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grappiolo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giannattasio
mesh_terms: D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010349:Patient Compliance