Clinical management of drug-induced hypertension: 2013 Practical Recommendations of the Italian Society of Hypertension (SIIA)

Abstract

Results from recent observational studies conducted in our country and including approximately 160,000 patients with hypertension, reported that only 37 % of patients achieve effective blood pressure control under treatment. These data confirm that blood pressure control amongst the hypertensive population is still largely unsatisfactory in Italy. For this reason, the Italian Society of Hypertension aims to generate a number of interventions to improve blood pressure control in Italy, including integrated actions with General Practitioners, the implementation of hypertension awareness in the general population, a larger use of home blood pressure measurements, and a survey aimed at identifying all clinical and excellence centers for hypertension diagnosis and treatment throughout the whole national territory. Many therapeutic agents or chemical substances can induce a persistent or transient increase in blood pressure or interfere with the effect of antihypertensive drugs, causing sodium retention and expansion of the extra-cellular volume, activating the sympathetic nervous system and inducing vasoconstriction. This aspect represents one of the most common cause of secondary forms of hypertension, which often is under-evaluated by the physicians. In this review article, the potential causes of secondary forms of hypertension caused by use/abuse of drugs or substances are summarized.