On 28th June 2006 the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) announced their revised guidelines on the treatment of hypertension, which will have a major impact on prescribing practice.1 With the media excitement surrounding these new guidelines, there is also likely to be an influx of patients concerned about their current medication. This article explains the changes to the guidelines, the evidence behind them and discusses the implications for clinicians.
Hypertension: management of hypertension in adults in primary care. NICE clinical guidelines34 (Partial update of NICE clinical guideline 18). June 2006.
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Williams B., Poulter NR, Brown MJ et al. Guidelines for management of hypertension report of the fourth working party of the British Hypertension Society, 2004-BHS IV. J Hum Hypertens2004;18:139-85.
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Turnbull F.Blood pressure lowering treatment trialists' collaboration. Effects of different BP lowering regimens on major cardiovascular events: results of prospectively designed overviews of randomised trials. Lancet2003;362:1527-35.
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Carlberg B., Samuelsson O., Lindholm LHAtenolol in hypertension: is it a wise choice?Lancet2004;364:1684-9.
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Dahlof B., Sever PS, Poulter NR et al. for the ASCOT investigators.Prevention of cardiovascular events with an antihypertensive regimen of amlodipine adding perindopril as required versus atenolol adding bendroflumethiazide as required, in the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial - Blood Pressure Lowering Arm (ASCOT-BPLA): a multi-centre randomised controlled trial. Lancet2005;366:895-906.
