title: Evaluation of patients diagnosed with essential arterial hypertension through network analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Essential hypertension is a chronic pathology that causes long-term complications due to late diagnosis of patients, the inability to control the disease through medication, or due to the complexity of associated risk factors.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our study sets out to identify specific patterns of response to arterial hypertension treatment, by taking into consideration the multiple connections between risk factors in a relevant population of hypertensive patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Network science is an emerging paradigm, branching over multiple aspects of physical, biological and social phenomena. One such branch, which has brought significant contributions to medical science, is the field of network medicine. To apply this methodology, we create a complex network of hypertensive patients based on their common medical conditions. Consequently, we obtain a community-based representation which pinpoints specific-and previously uncharted-patterns of hypertension development. This approach creates incentives for evaluating patient's treatment efficacy, by considering its network topological position.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Distinct clusters of patients with common properties have emerged for each study group (group A-treated with nebivolol, group B-treated with perindopril and group C-treated with candesartan cilexetil). Therefore, our network-based clustering allows for a better treatment assessment.
authors: Pharmacology-Clinical Pharmacy Department, "Victor Babes" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2, Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timisoara, Romania. lianads@yahoo.com.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Suciu
authors: Pharmacology-Clinical Pharmacy Department, "Victor Babes" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2, Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timisoara, Romania.
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Cristescu
authors: Computer and Software Engineering Department, University Politehnica Timisoara, 2, Vasile Parvan Boulevard, 300223, Timisoara, Romania.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Topîrceanu
authors: Drug Analysis Department, "Victor Babes" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2, Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timisoara, Romania.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Udrescu
authors: Computer and Software Engineering Department, University Politehnica Timisoara, 2, Vasile Parvan Boulevard, 300223, Timisoara, Romania.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Udrescu
authors: Pharmacology-Clinical Pharmacy Department, "Victor Babes" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2, Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timisoara, Romania.
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Buda
authors: Internal Medicine Department, "Victor Babes" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2, Eftimie Murgu Square, 300041, Timisoara, Romania.
authors: M C
authors: MC
authors: Tomescu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001562:Benzimidazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D000075222:Essential Hypertension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000068577:Nebivolol / Q000627:therapeutic use; D020913:Perindopril / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013777:Tetrazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D001562:Benzimidazoles; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds; D013777:Tetrazoles; D000068577:Nebivolol; C077793:candesartan cilexetil; D020913:Perindopril
keywords: Antihypertensive treatment efficacy; Arterial hypertension; Heart Score; Network analysis; Risk factors