scholarly journals Identification and management of resistant hypertension

Author(s):  
Abass Mahamoud Ahmed ◽  
Xiaochen Yuan

Resistant hypertension is defined as blood pressure being higher than the patient's target blood pressure despite the use of three or more different types of antihypertensive drugs at the optimal dose, and one of them should be a diuretic. The evaluation of patients with resistant hypertension should first confirm that they have true resistant hypertension. By eliminating or correcting false resistance factors, such as white coat hypertension, poor blood pressure measurement technique, poor drug compliance, improper dosage or combination of antihypertensive drugs, and white coat effects and clinical inertia. Resistant hypertension therapy includes improved compliance with the use of drugs, secondary hypertension detection and treatment, use of lifestyle measures and treatment of obesity, and other comorbidities. switching to a long-acting diuretic type of thiazide like chlorthalidone could improve the BP from the patients taking hydrochlorothiazide. This review paper illustrates briefly the identification of the underlying causes of resistant hypertension and therapeutic strategies, which may contribute to the proper diagnosis and an improvement of the long term management of resistant hypertension.  

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasios Makris ◽  
Maria Seferou ◽  
Dimitris P. Papadopoulos

Resistant hypertension is defined as blood pressure above the patient's goal despite the use of 3 or more antihypertensive agents from different classes at optimal doses, one of which should ideally be a diuretic. Evaluation of patients with resistive hypertension should first confirm that they have true resistant hypertension by ruling out or correcting factors associated with pseudoresistance such as white coat hypertension, suboptimal blood pressure measurement technique, poor adherence to prescribed medication, suboptimal dosing of antihypertensive agents or inappropriate combinations, the white coat effect, and clinical inertia. Management includes lifestyle and dietary modification, elimination of medications contributing to resistance, and evaluation of potential secondary causes of hypertension. Pharmacological treatment should be tailored to the patient's profile and focus on the causative pathway of resistance. Patients with uncontrolled hypertension despite receiving an optimal therapy are candidates for newer interventional therapies such as carotid baroreceptor stimulation and renal denervation.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 714
Author(s):  
Elisabeta Bădilă ◽  
Cristina Japie ◽  
Emma Weiss ◽  
Ana-Maria Balahura ◽  
Daniela Bartoș ◽  
...  

Resistant hypertension (R-HTN) implies a higher mortality and morbidity compared to non-R-HTN due to increased cardiovascular risk and associated adverse outcomes—greater risk of developing chronic kidney disease, heart failure, stroke and myocardial infarction. R-HTN is considered when failing to lower blood pressure below 140/90 mmHg despite adequate lifestyle measures and optimal treatment with at least three medications, including a diuretic, and usually a blocker of the renin-angiotensin system and a calcium channel blocker, at maximally tolerated doses. Hereby, we discuss the diagnostic and therapeutic approach to a better management of R-HTN. Excluding pseudoresistance, secondary hypertension, white-coat hypertension and medication non-adherence is an important step when diagnosing R-HTN. Most recently different phenotypes associated to R-HTN have been described, specifically refractory and controlled R-HTN and masked uncontrolled hypertension. Optimizing the three-drug regimen, including the diuretic treatment, adding a mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist as the fourth drug, a β-blocker as the fifth drug and an α1-blocker or a peripheral vasodilator as a final option when failing to achieve target blood pressure values are current recommendations regarding the correct management of R-HTN.


2020 ◽  
Vol 145 (02) ◽  
pp. 87-91
Author(s):  
Rainer Düsing

AbstractHypertension is defined as resistant to treatment when treatment fails to lower office systolic and diastolic blood pressure values to < 140/90 mmHg. The treatment strategy should include lifestyle measures and appropriate doses of three or more drugs acting by different mechanisms including a diuretic. An updated definition of treatment resistance includes all patients with ≥ 4 antihypertensive agents of different classes irrespective of their on-treatment blood pressure. The term “refractory” hypertension has been suggested for patients with uncontrolled blood pressure on ≥ 5 antihypertensive drugs including the thiazide-like diuretic chlorthalidone and the mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist spironolactone. “Pseudo resistance” especially due to white coat hypertension and non-adherence with the prescribed medication has to be ruled out to be able to identify patients with “true” treatment resistance. Therefore, before distinguishing true from pseudo resistance, the term “apparent” resistance should be used. While the prevalence of apparent resistance may be in the range of 10–15 % of treated patients, the exact prevalence of true resistance remains unknown due to the lack of appropriate studies but is likely to be rather small including a high proportion of patients with secondary forms of hypertension. Once identified most patients with true treatment resistance should receive intensified drug treatment primarily by expanded diuretic usage. Thus, resistant hypertension is primarily a diagnostic challenge: identifying patients with true resistance and those with secondary hypertension.


Hypertension ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keerthana Karumbaiah ◽  
Nidal Omar ◽  
Bassam A Omar

BACKGROUND: Office-based blood pressure (BP) measurement is a snapshot of a patient’s ambulatory BP, and is subject to variations which may influence management. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of a brief rest period on repeat BP measurement. METHODS: Patient charts reviewed in University-based cardiology clinic identified 170 encounters which contained BP re-measurement data due to elevated initial BP of > 130/80 mmHg. BP was measured initially by a nurse, with the patient in a sitting position and the arm resting at the level of the heart. If BP was > 130/80 mmHg, it was repeated by physician after resting the patient for 15 minutes. Mean age was 64 ± 12 years. Results: Among encounters with BP re-measurement, initial systolic BP (SBP) was 153 ± 27 mmHg, and diastolic BP was 87 ± 16 mmHg. Upon re-measurement, 106 of 170 patients (62%) had lower SBP of 143 ± 23 mmHg compared with initial SBP of 162 ± 28 mmHg; a mean drop of 18 mmHg. However, 53 of 170 patients (31%) had higher SBP of 149 ± 17 mmHg compared with initial SBP of 138 ± 14 mmHg; a mean increase of 10 mmHg. Eleven patients (7%) had no BP change. In 50% (85/170) of encounters, BP re-measurement necessitated hypertensive medication changes. Compared with the remaining patients, those with paradoxical increase in BP were younger (60 ± 9 years versus 66 ± 13 years; p < 0.01), more females (57% versus 47%), and with lower initial SBP (134 ± 14 versus 160 ± 28, p < 0.01). DISCUSSION: Hypertension is a challenging public health problem. JNC 7 guidelines recommend that prior to BP measurement, persons should be seated quietly for at least 5 minutes in a chair, with feet on the floor, and arm supported at heart level; this may decrease initially elevated BP. However, 30% of our patients exhibited a paradoxical response, with elevation of the SBP after a 15 minute period of rest. The cause of this paradox is not clear, but may have resulted from white-coat hypertension during the rest period, which may be more common in younger patients, especially females, as noted in our study. This underscores the importance of ambulatory BP monitoring, especially in subsets of patients prone to having labile or white coat hypertension, to avoid the cost and side effects of BP overtreatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
L E J Peeters ◽  
M H W Kappers ◽  
D A Hesselink ◽  
J B Van Der Net ◽  
S C C Hartong ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Identification of non-adherence to antihypertensive drugs is crucial to improve resistant hypertension (RH). For this therapeutic drug monitoring is the most reliable method. Purpose The primary objective of this analysis is to determine whether drug levels measured with a dried blood spot (DBS) method combined with personalized feedback leads to a decrease in prevalence of RH after 3 months due to an increase in adherence. Methods This is a multi-centre single-blinded randomized controlled trial (RHYME-RCT, NL6736). Patients went to an eligibility visit, where DBS sampling and a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure measurement (ABPM) was performed simultaneously. Patients with a daytime systolic blood pressure (SBP) &gt;135 and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) &gt;85 mmHg were randomized to standard treatment (control) or intervention. The intervention was performed by the treating physician and included information on drug levels and a personalized feedback conversation based on a feedback tool. The follow-up period was one year and included visits at 3, 6 and 12 months after the eligibility visit. At each visit an ABPM and DBS were performed. Results A total of 53 patients (mean age of 59±11 years, 78.7% male) with at least three months of follow-up were included. The prevalence of RH decreased from 100% in both arms to 75.0% in the intervention arm (p=0.014, n=24) and 58.6% in the control arm (p=0.001, n=29). No improvements were seen in adherence rates over time. Furthermore, no significant differences were found after three months between the two groups in the degree of RH (p=0.214), SBP (p=0.551) or adherence (p=0.746). Conclusion Measuring blood pressure and drug levels led to a decrease in the prevalence of RH. However, this improvement could not be linked to the actual intervention or improvement of adherence. FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): ZonMW


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