European Society of Hypertension to Release Comprehensive New Guidelines for the Management of Arterial Hypertension

Milan, Italy — The European Society of Hypertension (ESH), the leading hypertension society in Europe, will release updated and expanded 2023 ESH Guidelines for the Management of Arterial Hypertension. The recommendations will be presented during the 32nd Annual European Meeting on Hypertension and Cardiovascular Protection Meeting in Milan, Italy, on June 24, 2023. The new guidelines are designed to serve as an essential resource for healthcare professionals around the world that treat individuals with hypertension.

Arterial hypertension is a common and leading preventable cause of heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and death that impacts 1.28 billion adults worldwide. Some risk factors for hypertension include obesity, poor diet, lack of exercise and stress. Arterial hypertension constitutes the most prevalent and important risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality globally despite the availability of effective pharmacological treatments. In addition, approximately half of individuals with hypertension do not meet guideline-directed blood pressure (BP) goals. While medication and lifestyle changes can help decrease hypertension, they alone are sometimes not enough.

The new guidelines will include:

· Updated definition, classification, and recommendations for measurement and monitoring of hypertension and BP

· Expanded patient populations including women, older adults, young adults and children/adolescents

· Innovations in therapeutic strategies developed to treat uncontrolled hypertension including the use of renal denervation

“We believe providing updated guidelines for the treatment of hypertension is vital to ensuring clinicians have the latest recommendations for treating the billions of people around the world with hypertension. We look forward to seeing the impact these guidelines have, especially for patients who do not adhere to medication,” Giuseppe Mancia, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University Milano-Bicocca, Italy and co-chair of the guidelines.

The comprehensive ESH guidelines were written and approved by a diverse panel of European hypertension specialists for practicing physicians and healthcare professionals with hypertensive patients.

“These new guidelines offer significant changes in understanding and a more customized approach to different patient audiences as this public health crisis continues to grow on a global scale,” said Professor Reinhold Kreutz, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany and co-chair of the guidelines. “These new guidelines offer, for the first time, recommendations for additional patient populations including women, children and adolescents as well as the impact of COVID-19 and co-morbidities such as obesity, heart disease, chronic kidney disease and diabetes on uncontrolled hypertension.”

The full ESH Guidelines will be presented over three sessions (June 24 – June 26, 2023) and will be available in the Journal of Hypertension. Video presentations with guideline co-authors will be available through the ESH website.

About the European Society of Hypertension Meetings The annual European Hypertension Meetings offer the highest quality scientific programs related to research in Basic and Clinic areas and Clinical Management in Hypertension with State-of-the-Art Lectures, Satellite Symposia, Teaching Sessions and credits for qualifying as Hypertension Specialists of the European Society of Hypertension.