[Are the 1999 World Health Organization-International Society of Hypertension recommendations applicable to clinical practice?].
The aim of the 1999 WHO-ISH guidelines is to help the physicians in the management of hypertensive patients. The institution of antihypertensive treatment represents an important stage of this management sometimes at the detriment of lifestyle measures (non pharmacological treatments).


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate if the 1999 WHO-ISH guidelines concerning the initiation of antihypertensive treatment are applied in a hypertension clinic.


METHODS
Seventy hypertensive subjects never treated by antihypertensive drugs, aged 51 +/- 13 years, managed in daily hospitalization, were included in the study. According to their level of cardiovascular risk, we evaluated the concordance between the 1999 WHO-ISH guidelines and the clinical practice in term of institution of treatment.


RESULTS
A concordance of 70% between the 1999 WHO-ISH guidelines and the clinical practice was observed (50/70 subjects) and a discordance in 30% of cases (20/70). Among the discordant subjects, the treatment was instituted in 65% of cases although it was not recommended. In contrast, in the remaining 35% of cases, lifestyle measures have been proposed although an antihypertensive treatment was recommended. The principal determinants of the discordance were the grade 2 of hypertension, the presence of 1 or 2 risk factors and an enhanced cardiovascular risk (> or = 3 risk factors). Neither age, nor gender were an explicative parameter of the observed discordance.


CONCLUSIONS
The 1999 WHO-ISH guidelines concerning the initiation of antihypertensive treatment are more often applied in clinical practice. However, in some cases of grade 2 hypertension drug treatment is more often prescribed than recommended by guidelines, and not enough in the presence of numerous cardiovascular risk factors.
Hanon
O
O
Service de médecine interne, hôpital Broussais, Paris.
Anagnostopoulos
K
K
Franconi
G
G
Amah
G
G
Safar
M
M
Girerd
X
X
D000367:Age Factors; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000628:therapy; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014944:World Health Organization
D000959:Antihypertensive Agents