2006 Recommendations of the Canadian Hypertension Education Program: Sound Bite Version

INTRODUCTIONHypertension remains a significant health problem that is projected to become a greater global burden in the next 20 years. The estimated total number of adults with hypertension was 972 million in 2000: 333 million in economically developed countries and 639 million in less economically developed countries. The number of adults with hypertension is anticipated to increase by about 60% by 2025, to a total of 1.56 billion. Hence, hypertension is an important and growing public health challenge worldwide. Prevention, detection, treatment, and control of this condition should receive high priority. The Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP) has a mandate to improve the management of hypertension, to develop tools to aid health care professionals, and to evaluate the impact of these activities. CHEP continues to provide the most current evidence-based recommendations to Canadian health care workers. This year, 2006, marks the seventh consecutive year that CHEP has updated recommendations for the diagnosis, management, and treatment of hypertension. This year, CHEP’s recommendations focus on adherence to antihypertensive therapy

Recommendations of the 2004 Canadian Hypertension Education Program: A Brief Overview

INTRODUCTION As a response to the challenge of controlling hypertension and hypertension-related cardiovascular disease, the Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP) has produced annually updated evidence-based recommendations for hypertension management and has provided tools to assist health care professionals in adopting and implementing these recommendations. This article is a brief overview of the 2004 recommendations for hypertension management. The full text of the recommendations, as well as summaries and a slide kid for medical education, is available through the Web site of the Canadian Hypertension Society (http://www.CHS.md)

2007 Recommendations of the Canadian Hypertension Education Program: Short Clinical Summary (Annual Update)

INTRODUCTIONThe year 2007 marks the eighth consecutive year that the Canadian Hypertension Education Program has updated recommendations for the management of hypertension. This year we have focused on the need to assess blood pressure in all Canadian adults and to regularly assess blood pressure in those with high normal values. In addition, the 2007 recommendations support the increasing evidence that hypertension can be prevented through public health interventions to reduce dietary sodium

The 2004 Canadian recommendations for the management of hypertension: Part III--Lifestyle modifications to prevent and control hypertension

<b>OBJECTIVE:</b> To provide updated, evidence-based recommendations regarding the role of lifestyle modification in the treatment and prevention of hypertension.<p></p> <b>OUTCOMES:</b> Lifestyle modification interventions including exercise, weight reduction, alcohol consumption, dietary modification, intake of dietary cations and stress management are reviewed. Antioxidants and fish oil supplements are also reviewed, although specific recommendations cannot be made at present.<p></p> <b>EVIDENCE:</b> MEDLINE searches were conducted from January 2002 to September 2003 to update the 2001 recommendations for the management of hypertension. Supplemental searches in the Cochrane Collaboration databases were also performed. Reference lists were scanned, experts were contacted, and the personal files of the subgroup members and authors were used to identify additional published studies. All relevant articles were reviewed and appraised independently using prespecified levels of evidence by content and methodology experts.<p></p> <b>RECOMMENDATIONS:</b> Key recommendations include the following: lifestyle modification should be extended to nonhypertensive individuals who are at risk for developing high blood pressure; 30 min to 45 min of aerobic exercise should be performed on most days (four to five days) of the week; an ideal body weight (body mass index 18.5 kg/m2 to 24.9 kg/m2) should be maintained and weight loss strategies should use a multidisciplinary approach; alcohol consumption should be limited to two drinks or fewer per day, and weekly intake should not exceed 14 standard drinks for men and nine standard drinks for women; a reduced fat, low cholesterol diet that emphasizes fruits, vegetables and low fat dairy products, and maintains an adequate intake of potassium, magnesium and calcium, should be followed; salt intake should be restricted to 65 mmol/day to 100 mmol/day in hypertensive individuals and less than 100 mmol/day in normotensive individuals at high risk for developing hypertension; and stress management should be considered as an intervention in selected individuals.<p></p> <b>VALIDATION:</b> All recommendations were graded according to the strength of the evidence and voted on by the Canadian Hypertension Education Program Evidence-Based Recommendations Task Force. Individuals with irreconcilable competing interests (declared by all members, compiled and circulated before the meeting) relative to any specific recommendation were excluded from voting on that recommendation. Only those recommendations achieving at least 70% consensus are reported here. These guidelines will continue to be updated annually

The 2007 Canadian Hypertension Education Program recommendations for the management of hypertension: Part 1 – blood pressure measurement, diagnosis and assessment of risk

All recommendations were graded according to strength of the evidence and were voted on by the 57 members of the Canadian Hypertension Education Program Evidence-Based Recommendations Task Force. All recommendations reported here received at least 70% consensus. These guidelines will continue to be updated annually