[Combination for initial therapy in hypertension, is it useful?]

Abstract

Hypertension represents the first cause of mortality worldwide because a leading role in development of cardiovascular and renal diseases. Evidence about the benefits of controlling hypertension is overwhelming, but adequate control of blood pressure is still poor even in high-income countries. At least one of 2 hypertensive patients suffers from uncontrolled blood pressure. Nearly 75% of hypertensive patients do not achieve adequate control with monotherapy. Strategies to improve control include avoiding inertia in initiating pharmacological treatment, prompt shift to combined therapy from monotherapy, initial treatment with a 2-drug combination, and use of fixed-dose combinations in a single pill. This review focuses in benefits of initiating treatment combining antihypertensive drugs.

Keywords: Antihypertensive treatment; Blood pressure control; Combination treatment; Control de la presión arterial; Hipertensión arterial; Hypertension; Tratamiento antihipertensivo; Tratamiento combinado.