History of European hypertension guidelines. Definition and classification of hypertension and total cardiovascular risk

Until a few years ago, the ESH did not make specific guidelines on hypertension, but chose to endorse guidelines prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) (1,2). ESH, in cooperation with the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), incorporated these guidelines, with some modifications, into their joint recommendations for the prevention of coronary heart disease (3,4).