What is the lowest acceptable diastolic blood pressure (BP) in an elderly patient who is being treated for systolic hypertension? More »

I understand that patients with refractory hypertension have a high risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome. Can this be screened for in an office setting? More »

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) may lead to increased pulmonary vascular resistance, compromised vasoreactivity, right heart failure, and death. PAH, a subset of pulmonary hypertension (PH), classically is associated with systemic sclerosis but also occurs with other rheumatologic conditions.... More »

A 77-year-old man of Japanese ancestry with a history of well-controlled hypertension was seen in the morning for a routine examination. His blood pressure was normal as were the results of a complete blood cell count and liver function tests. About 6 hours later, he presented to the emergency... More »

Survival is reduced significantly in patients who have systemic sclerosis (SSc) with pulmonary hypertension (PH) combined with advanced interstitial lung disease (ILD) compared with patients with SSc who have isolated pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The prognosis for patients in the former... More »

The cardiovascular properties of serotonin (5-HT) have been known for some time—its name reflects its presence in serum and its action in increasing vascular tone. Serotonergic medications are routinely used to treat depressive and anxiety disorders, and the association of depression with... More »

Hypertension affects approximately 73.6 million persons in the United States or one-third of the adult population. This is an increase from 72 million persons in 2007, 65 million persons in 2002, and 50 million US adults in 1994 (or one-third, 29%, and 25% of the adult population, respectively). More »

At what blood pressure is it prudent to treat newly diagnosed hypertension with 2 antihypertensive agents, and what criteria should guide selection of the 2 drugs? More »

Systolic hypertension is an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease, stroke, and end-stage renal disease. Nonpharmacological interventions for systolic hypertension include limitation of dietary sodium and alcohol intake along with weight reduction and aerobic exercise. More »

An oral renin inhibitor, aliskiren, recently became available. Does it have any advantages over angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs)? More »