title: Cardiovascular and renal risk assessment as a guide for treatment in primary hypertension.
abstract: BP levels per se may be an unreliable indicator of risk in the individual patient. In fact, the global cardiovascular profile, including the presence and degree of target organ damage, is a better predictor of future events and, therefore, should be used to choose both treatment and BP goals. However, the prevalence of target organ damage and therefore the percentage of patients who are at risk very much depends on the diagnostic techniques used. However, as a result of the high prevalence of hypertension and its financial impact on public health systems, limiting unnecessary and extensive diagnostic tests also should be a priority. The routine search for microalbuminuria may lead to the detection of a significantly greater percentage of patients who are at high risk while contributing the optimization of the cost-effectiveness of diagnostic workup in hypertensive patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy. rpontrem@medicina.unige.it
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pontremoli
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leoncini
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Viazzi
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parodi
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ratto
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vettoretti
authors.forename: Maura
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ravera
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tomolillo
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Deferrari
mesh_terms: D000419:Albuminuria / Q000150:complications; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment