Practice Guidelines Released by the International Society of Hypertension
Two journals have simultaneously published a set of international guidelines to help physicians around the world treat their hypertensive patients.
Two journals have simultaneously published a set of international guidelines to help physicians around the world treat their hypertensive patients.
The International Society of Hypertension (ISH) released the “ISH 2020 Global Hypertension Practice Guidelines” this week for simultaneous publication in the medical journals Hypertension and Journal of Hypertension .
Hypertension affects more than 1.4 billion people, accounts for more than 28,000 deaths each day, and is the leading cause of death worldwide.
According to the ISH these are the first guidelines developed specifically for the management of hypertension regardless of population or resources. This is particularly important because approximately 72 percent of the global hypertensive population reside in low and middle income countries.
“We believe these simplified guidelines will be of use globally and may be of most use in countries that do not have their own national hypertension practice guidelines,” said one of the study authors Dr. Richard Wainford, Associate Professor of pharmacology and medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.
The goal, Wainford explains is for the guidelines to be used globally versus a specific region and to be concise, simplified and easy to use by clinicians, nurses and community health workers. “The inclusion of optimal and essential treatment paradigms throughout the guidelines attempts to address the issue that in resource poor settings it may not be possible to access cutting-edge medical equipment and technology – however it is still possible to address hypertension prevalence and treatment,” he added.
Unger T, Borghi C, Charchar F, et al. 2020 International Society of Hypertension global hypertension practice guidelines. J Hypertens. 2020;38(6):982â1004. doi:10.1097/HJH.0000000000002453
