Cardioprotective Potential of Antihypertensives

The main reason for treating arterial hypertension is obviously to reduce hypertension-induced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Numerous studies have demonstrated a preventive effect against stroke when elevated blood pressure has been lowered by pharmacological intervention. A preventive effect of such therapy has also been shown with regard to coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the issue here is much less clear, perhaps because diuretics have been the main therapy in the majority of the large intervention trials. There are reasons to believe that newer therapy, eg, the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, would be more effective in preventing CHD in hypertensive patients. Some of this evidence will be reviewed in this paper.