Hypertension management in 2030: a kaleidoscopic view

Abstract

The last decade has witnessed the healthcare system going paperless with increased use of electronic healthcare records. Artificial intelligence tools including smartphones and smart watches have changed the landscape of day-to-day lives. Digitisation, decentralisation of healthcare and empowerment of allied healthcare providers and patients themselves have made shared clinical decision-making a reality. The year 2020 quickly turned into an unprecedented time in our lives with the entry of COVID-19. Amidst a pandemic, healthcare systems rapidly adapted and transformed, and changes that otherwise would have taken a decade, took a mere few weeks (Webster, Lancet 395:1180-1, 2020). This essay reviews evidence of transformation in the realm of hypertension management, namely diagnosis, lifestyle changes, therapeutics and prevention of hypertension at both individual and population levels, and presents an extrapolation of how this transformation might shape the next decade.

Fig. 1. BIHS Stanley Peart essay award.

Dr. Spoorthy Kulkarni: Winner of BIHS Stanley Peart Essay 2020.

Fig. 2. Highlights the key areas which can transform hypertension management.

Maximum impact can be brought about by overlap of efforts working towards common goals of systems strategy towards precision medicine. Adapted from Dzau and Balatbat [36].