The role of angiotensin II receptor antagonists in hypertension management: focus on candesartan cilexetil

Abstract

The prevention and treatment of hypertension both from the viewpoint of individual patient care and in terms of population health presents a considerable challenge to the medical profession. To assist in meeting this challenge, various bodies have produced guidelines for the management of hypertension during the past 30 years. The aim of this article is to review the recommendations of the most recent of these – the 1999 WHO–ISH guidelines – as well as previous similar documents, including the earlier 1993 WHO–ISH guidelines and the US Joint National Committee on prevention, detection, evaluation and treatment of high blood pressure, and to outline the supportive evidence that has contributed to their formulation. Moreover, the 1999 guidelines have added a new class of antihypertensive drugs, the angiotensin II receptor antagonists, to the armamentarium of therapeutic agents recommended for the early treatment of hypertension. Particular attention will be paid in this paper to the role of these agents in hypertension, focusing on candesartan cilexetil as a representative of its class.