Tailoring antihypertensive therapy in 1991

Tailored care will increasingly become the hallmark of treatment for patients with hypertension in the 1990s. In mildly hypertensive patients, treatment should begin with nonpharmacologic approaches to lower blood pressure and reduce the patient's cardiovascular risk profile. The ever-increasing array of antihypertensive drugs and drug classes will enable clinicians to select agents based on the advantages and disadvantages for a particular patient, while continuing to move away from the rigid guidelines of stepped care. Physicians more often will base their choice of antihypertensive therapy not on safety and efficacy alone, but rather on the safety and efficacy of the drug in the long-term care and the impact of therapy on quality of life.