Clinical guidelines for the management of hypertension

Abstract

The World Health Organization has estimated that high blood pressure causes one in every eight deaths, making hypertension the third leading killer in the world. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region cardiovascular diseases and stroke are becoming major causes of illness and death as populations age, smoking rates continue to rise unchecked and diets and lifestyles change. Good management is central to any strategy formulated to control hypertension at the community level. These guidelines are aimed at standardizing the management and care of hypertension, including control of blood pressure and complications in people with established hypertension and identification of individuals with high blood pressure who are at increased risk of complications; and at promoting integration of prevention of hypertension into primary health care settings, including lifestyle measures for prevention and management and cost-effectiveness. The guidelines are intended to benefit physicians at primary, secondary and tertiary level, general practitioners, internists and family medicine specialists, clinical dieticians and nurses as well as health and policy-makers in the Region. They provide the necessary information for decision-making by health care providers or patients themselves about disease management in the most commonly encountered situations