Polish Society of Hypertension
2015 Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension
Part 1–7
Recommendations of the Polish Society of Hypertension
Guideline editors: Andrzej Tykarski, Krzysztof Narkiewicz, Zbigniew Gaciong, Andrzej Januszewicz, Mieczysław Litwin, Katarzyna Kostka-Jeziorny
Experts: Marcin Adamczak, Ludwina Szczepaniak-Chicheł, Marzena Chrostowska, Danuta Czarnecka, Grzegorz Dzida, Krzysztof J. Filipiak, Jerzy Gąsowski, Jerzy Głuszek, Stefan Grajek, Tomasz Grodzicki, Kalina Kawecka-Jaszcz, Beata Wożakowska-Kapłon, Beata Begier-Krasińska, Jacek Manitius, Małgorzata Myśliwiec, Anna Niemirska, Aleksander Prejbisz, Danuta Pupek-Musialik, Grażyna Brzezińska-Rajszys, Katarzyna Stolarz-Skrzypek, Agnieszka Szadkowska, Tomasz Tomasik, Krystyna Widecka, Andrzej Więcek, Adam Windak, Jacek Wolf, Tomasz Zdrojewski, Aleksandra Żurowska
Arterial Hypertens. 2015, vol. 19, no. 2, pages: 53–83
DOI: 10.5603/AH.2015.0010
Introduction
The Polish Society of Hypertension (PTNT) presents a new edition of its guidelines for the management of hypertension.
During four years that have passed since publication of the previous 2011 guidelines, results of multiple studies and metaanalyses evaluating antihypertensive therapy have been published. These results have extended the range of available information, leading to modification of some previous concepts, such as the approach to the treatment of resistant and secondary hypertension, including interventional treatment.
The present document is generally based on the 2011 PTNT guidelines and includes some of the changes, which were considered appropriate by the authors of the present guidelines, that were introduced in the most recent European Society of Hypertension/European Society of Cardiology (ESH/ESC) guidelines published in 2013.
A novel aspect of the 2015 PTNT guidelines has been the addition of an extensive chapter on the management of hypertension in children, based on the fact that hypertension specialists in training may stem from both internists and paediatricians, with an attempt to make this guideline edition more practical, taking into consideration some specific Polish conditions and issues regarding the diagnosis and drug treatment.
A traffic light signalling system-based classification has been introduced in the tables summarizing the basic principles of the management of hypertension in special patient populations, with the three lights corresponding in a simplified way to typical recommendation classes along with their levels of evidence, but also reflecting expert opinion to a greater degree compared to the 2013 ESH/ESC guidelines.
These colours mean:
green — a given management approach is recommended, generally based on clear evidence from research studies, or unequivocal expert opinion resulting from everyday clinical practice;
yellow — a given management approach is suggested as appropriate despite lacking or equivocal evidence from research studies, based on the opinion of the majority of experts reflecting common sense and their personal clinical experience;
red — a given management approach is considered harmful, generally based on clear evidence from research studies, or not justified due to lack of supporting evidence.