How to Treat Hypertension?
Patients with hypertension should establish good treatment goals and principles, follow the doctor's instructions for using antihypertensive drugs, and cultivate good living habits. Hypertension is a difficult-to-treat disease that cannot be cured currently. It is essential to have a correct understanding of this disease, especially to clarify the treatment goals and use antihypertensive drugs regularly and standardly to achieve good control effects.
1.
The ultimate goal of antihypertensive treatment is to reduce the incidence and mortality of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases among patients with hypertension. Blood pressure control target values should be established for antihypertensive treatment. On the other hand, hypertension often coexists with other risk factors for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, such as hypercholesterolemia, obesity, and diabetes, which can jointly increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, treatment measures should be comprehensive, including improving lifestyle behaviors, reducing weight, reducing sodium intake, supplementing calcium and potassium, reducing fat intake, increasing exercise, quitting smoking, and limiting alcohol consumption.
Individualized blood pressure control standards vary due to different causes and mechanisms of hypertension. Clinical medication should be tailored according to individual circumstances to select the most appropriate drugs and dosages to achieve the best therapeutic effect.
Multiple cardiovascular risk factors should be controlled synergistically. Even after antihypertensive treatment and blood pressure control within the normal range, multiple risk factors other than increased blood pressure still have a significant impact on prognosis.
2.
Antihypertensive drugs include diuretics, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and angiotensin II receptor blockers. For most patients without complications or comorbidities, thiazide diuretics and beta-blockers can be used alone or in combination. Treatment should start with a small dose and gradually increase the dosage. In clinical practice, factors such as the patient's cardiovascular risk factors, target organ damage, complications, comorbidities, antihypertensive effect, and adverse reactions can affect the choice of antihypertensive drugs.
