Fixed-combination therapy to improve blood pressure control: experience with olmesartan-based therapy

Effective treatment of high blood pressure represents a key strategy for reducing the burden of hypertension-related cardiovascular diseases. In spite of these well-established concepts, hypertension remains poorly controlled worldwide. In addition, treated hypertensive patients often remain at higher risk compared with the normotensive population, even when a satisfactory blood pressure control is achieved, owing to a high or very high added cardiovascular risk profile. An emerging strategy to improve blood pressure control in hypertensive patients is a more extensive use of combination therapy than monotherapy in the daily clinical practice. Within the possible antihypertensive drug combinations currently available for the clinical management of hypertension, those based on the association of drugs inhibiting the renin-angiotensin system and thiazide diuretics or calcium channel-blockers have demonstrated to be effective and safe in lowering both systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels with a good tolerability profile. This article provides an overview of fixed-combination strategies, with a particular focus on the fixed-combination strategies based on olmesartan medoxomil.