Rationale for the Concept of Impending Hypertension-Mediated Organ Damage

The number of patients with hypertension urgencies (HTN-Us) and emergencies (HTN-Es) in the emergency department is relatively constant despite improved detection, awareness and control of arterial hypertension.

This study analyses the precision of the often-used definition of HTN-E, particularly the phrase 'with the evidence of impending or progressive hypertension-mediated organ damage (HMOD)'. We then provide a rationale for the concept of impending HMOD.

The databases PubMed, Science Direct, Springer, Oxford Press, Wiley, SAGE and Google Scholar were searched and the relevant definition has been analyzed.

The definition of HTN-E is suboptimal and requires a consensus on whether to include the phrase 'impending hypertensive HMOD' in the definition.

A consensus on the principles of treating the 'impending hypertensive HMOD' does not exist, making its use inconsistent in emergency departments worldwide. In this paper, we present a rationale for the concept of 'impending HMOD'.