Authors

• Bojan Jelaković — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska — ORCID: 0000-0002-2546-4632
• Maja Baretić — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Maja Čikeš — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Živka Dika — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Margareta Fištrek-Prlić — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska — ORCID: 0000-0002-9169-2190
• Ana Jelaković — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Jelena Kos — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Ivana Kraljević — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Mario Laganović — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Robert Likić — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Martina Lovrić-Benčić — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Draško Pavlović — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Darko Počanić — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Hrvoje Tiljak — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Majda Vrkić-Kirhmajer — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Tajana Željković-Vrkić — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Željko Reiner — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska
• Davor Miličić — Hrvatsko društvo za hipertenziju Hrvatskoga liječničkog zbora, Hrvatska

Abstract

Arterial hypertension is the main independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of hypertension is increasing in most countries. Despite the availability of all classes of antihypertensive drugs, the rate control in hypertension treatment is insufficient, for which there are abundant explanations. One of the main reasons is the gap between evidence-based guidelines and their applicability in practice, a gap which leads to poor rate control in hypertension and increases the number of premature cardiovascular events and death. The first step in the management of a hypertensive patient is rational diagnosis, i.e., to avoid increasing the expenses of treating this mass chronic disease by unnecessary tests and to minimize errors. The aim of these practical guidelines for diagnosis of hypertension is for them to be practical and useful in everyday practice. There is an emphasis on particular procedures and data with exact cut-off values. The aim of these guidelines is not only to guide and simplify our decision-making process in everyday work, but also to educate. We thus provide reminders on some fundamental knowledge. There are some novel elements (instructions of heart rate, place and role of central blood pressure and pulse wave velocity measurement, estimation of renal function, IT e.g. telemonitoring, and the use of smartphone apps). At the end of the guidelines, we provide several appendices which could be useful in everyday clinical work, such as questionnaires for sleep apnea syndrome, questionnaires for erectile and sexual dysfunction, cognitive dysfunction questionnaires, and others. In these guidelines, we wanted to be practical, precise, and realistic given the options available in our work setting. The objective was to show and cover as many specific facts and procedures as possible that we find useful in everyday work, so that the clinician does not have to waste time searching the guidelines or literature.

Keywords

KLJUČNE RIJEČI: arterijska hipertenzija, smjernice, dijagnostika, hypertension, guidelines, diagnosis

DOI

Full Text

Arterial hypertension is the main independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of hypertension is increasing in most countries. Despite the availability of all classes of antihypertensive drugs, the rate control in hypertension treatment is insufficient, for which there are abundant explanations. One of the main reasons is the gap between evidence-based guidelines and their applicability in practice, a gap which leads to poor rate control in hypertension and increases the number of premature cardiovascular events and death. The first step in the management of a hypertensive patient is rational diagnosis, i.e., to avoid increasing the expenses of treating this mass chronic disease by unnecessary tests and to minimize errors. The aim of these practical guidelines for diagnosis of hypertension is for them to be practical and useful in everyday practice. There is an emphasis on particular procedures and data with exact cut-off values. The aim of these guidelines is not only to guide and simplify our decision-making process in everyday work, but also to educate. We thus provide reminders on some fundamental knowledge. There are some novel elements (instructions of heart rate, place and role of central blood pressure and pulse wave velocity measurement, estimation of renal function, IT e.g. telemonitoring, and the use of smartphone apps). At the end of the guidelines, we provide several appendices which could be useful in everyday clinical work, such as questionnaires for sleep apnea syndrome, questionnaires for erectile and sexual dysfunction, cognitive dysfunction questionnaires, and others. In these guidelines, we wanted to be practical, precise, and realistic given the options available in our work setting. The objective was to show and cover as many specific facts and procedures as possible that we find useful in everyday work, so that the clinician does not have to waste time searching the guidelines or literature.