[Swedish research in hypertension].
In Sweden, research in hypertension has been on-going since the early 1920's when Eskil Kylin was the first to describe hypertension as part of a metabolic cardiovascular syndrome. Later on several other researchers and clinicians have contributed to the development of medical understanding of hypertension and its treatment. Bertil Hood was the one who started modern drug therapy for malignant hypertension in 1950 when hexamethonium was used, which was a life-saving drug but with many serious adverse reactions. Later on other drugs have been developed many of them first tested in smaller haemodynamic studies before used in clinical trials. Some of these smaller studies were initiated by Lars Werkö and his colleagues. In recent years Swedish researchers have made great contributions in hypertension research, e.g. Björn Folkow for studies regarding arterial wall modelling in hypertension, and Lennart Hansson for initiating large-scale randomised clinical trials in middle-aged and elderly hypertensive patients. In spite of the fact that hypertensive patients constitute the largest patient group of all, with currently 700.000 treated patients in Sweden, it is still not well established which therapy and other interventions are the most beneficial and cost-effective for long-term treatment. Swedish research in hypertension is therefore ongoing and supported by the Swedish Hypertension Society for which Peter Nilsson is the current patient.
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D049673:History, 20th Century; D006973:Hypertension / Q000266:history*; D012106:Research / Q000266:history*; D013548:Sweden