NICE sets out guidelines for hypertension

Combination drug treatment should be used to treat hypertension, recommends the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in its latest guidelines on the diagnosis and management in primary care of essential hypertension in adults.

Previously patients would be given one antihypertensive drug, and if this failed to control their blood pressure adequately they would be taken off that drug and given an antihypertensive from another class.

However, after a review of the evidence base, …