May Measure Month 2022 in Italy: A Focus on Fixed-dose Combination, Therapeutic Adherence, and Medical Inertia in a Nationwide Survey.

Introduction: Hypertension is the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Notably, only about half of hypertensive patients manage to achieve the recommended blood pressure (BP) control. Main reasons for the persistence of uncontrolled BP during treatment are lack of compliance on the patients' side, and therapeutic inertia on physicians' side.

World Hypertension Day 2021 in Italy: Results of a Nationwide Survey.

Introduction: Hypertension is the biggest contributor to the global burden of cardiovascular diseases and related death, but the rates of hypertension awareness, treatment, and control remain largely perfectible.

Methods: During the XVII World Hypertension Day (May 17th, 2021), a nationwide cross-sectional opportunistic study endorsed by the Italian Society of Hypertension was conducted on volunteer adults ≥ 18 years to raise awareness of high blood pressure (BP). A questionnaire on major demographic/clinical features (sex, age, employment, education, BP status awareness, hypertension family/personal history, antihypertensive medications use) and BP measurement habits (≥1 BP measurement in the previous month/week) was administered.

How to Improve Effectiveness and Adherence to Antihypertensive Drug Therapy: Central Role of Dihydropyridinic Calcium Channel Blockers in Hypertension.

Essential hypertension is a complex clinical condition, characterized by multiple and concomitant abnormal activation of different regulatory and contra-regulatory pathophysiological mechanisms, leading to sustained increase of blood pressure (BP) levels. Asymptomatic rise of BP may, indeed, promote development and progression of hypertension-related organ damage, which in turn, increases the risk of major cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. A progressive and independent relationship has been demonstrated between high BP levels and increased cardiovascular risk, even in the high-to-normal range.

Correlation between endothelial dysfunction and myocardial damage in acute phase of Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy: brachial flow mediated dilation as a potential marker for assessment of patient with Tako-Tsubo.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) is characterized by transient systolic ventricular dysfunction. It is supposed to be caused by a cathecolaminergic wave which leads to myocardial stunning through a massive action on beta2-adrenoreceptor. Moreover, beta2-receptor hyperactivity negatively influences endothelial function.

Ambulatory blood pressure parameters after canrenone addition to existing treatment regimens with maximum tolerated dose of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockers plus hydrochlorothiazide in uncontrolled hypertensive patients.

Background: Blockade of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is a cornerstone in cardiovascular disease prevention and hypertension treatment. The relevance of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) has been widely confirmed for both increasing the accuracy of blood pressure (BP) measurements, particularly in pharmacological trials, and focusing on 24 h BP prognostic parameters. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of canrenone addition on ambulatory BP in uncontrolled hypertensive patients already treated with the highest tolerated dose of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) antagonists plus hydrochlorothiazide (HCT).

Efficacy and safety of two dosages of canrenone as add-on therapy in hypertensive patients taking ace-inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers and hydrochlorothiazide at maximum dosage in a randomized clinical trial: The ESCAPE-IT trial.

Aim: To evaluate the effects of canrenone as add-on therapy in patients already treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I) or angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) and hydrochlorothiazide at the maximum dosage (25 mg/d).

Method: In this randomized, open-label, controlled trial, we enrolled 175 Caucasian patients with essential hypertension not well controlled by concomitant ACE-I or ARBs and hydrochlorothiazide. At baseline, 87 patients (57 males and 30 females) were randomized to add canrenone 50 mg, and 88 (56 males and 32 females) patients to canrenone 100 mg, once a day, for 3 months.

Microvascular impairment is associated with insulin resistance in euglycemic mild hypertensives.

Background: Hypertension and diabetes are significantly associated with insulin resistance (IR), which could affect the vasodilatory capacity and microcirculation. The aim of the study was to verify whether IR is associated with a reduced microvascular blood flow in normoglycemic mild hypertensives.

Methods: Eighty-four untreated grade-1 hypertensives were equally divided, according to the IR homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) index, into three groups: IR-Low = 2.

Measures of total stress-induced blood pressure responses are associated with vascular damage.

Background: The role of cardiovascular reactivity to study hypertension, and the assessment methods, are still controversial. We aimed to verify the association of hypertension and vascular damage with several measures of cardiovascular response.

Methods: We studied 40 patients with normal-high (132 +/- 1/87 +/- 1 mm Hg) blood pressure (Group 1) and 80 untreated hypertensive subjects.

Stress-induced hemodynamic responses are associated with insulin resistance in mild hypertensives.

Background: High blood pressure (BP) and pulse pressure (PP) are recognized as independent risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, whereas insulin resistance (IR) is often associated with hypertension. The purpose of the study was to verify whether PP, taken at the doctor's office and during laboratory stimuli, might be predictive of IR.

Methods: Homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance index (HOMA) was calculated in 75 grade 1 hypertensives (148 +/- 2/92 +/- 1 mm Hg).