Grenzen aan de behandeling van hypertensie

According to the 2011 Dutch guideline on Cardiovascular risk management 1 in 5 hypertensive patients are eligible for blood pressure lowering treatment.

The Dutch guideline recommends striving for a systolic blood pressure (SBP) of < 140 mmHg in adult patients who have no cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus, while the recent American guideline now recommends an SBP target value of < 130 mmHg for all adult patients.

An important reason for using a stricter SBP target value are the results of randomised studies and meta-analyses that looked at the effect of intensive antihypertensive therapy on the risk of mortality and cardiovascular disease.

Based on the literature, there appears to be sufficient evidence that intensive antihypertensive therapy (SBP target value of < 130 mmHg) is useful in patients with cardiovascular disease and in patients with high cardiovascular risk.

Currently, there is insufficient evidence that intensive antihypertensive therapy is useful in patients who have diabetes mellitus or who are over 80 years old.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.