ABSTRACT
Patients with raised blood pressure often have other risk factors for atherosclerotic disease. Epidemiological studies have shown a tendency for these factors to cluster so that high blood pressure is associated with high plasma levels of cholesterol, obesity and abnormal glucose tolerance. Interventional trials with antihypertensive drugs alone have shown that the risk of coronary events is reduced, at best, by only one-third to one-half of that expected. There may be benefit in combining antihypertensive treatment with lipid-lowering drugs, and the preliminary evidence from one trial suggests support for this approach.
