Use of single-pill combination therapy in the evolving paradigm of hypertension management.

The use of antihypertensive therapy is an evolving paradigm. Although blood pressure (BP) control rates remain low, there have been improvements that may be attributable in part to a recent shift in clinical guidelines that recognizes that most patients will require multiple drugs to reach BP goals and encourages clinicians to use combination therapy as first-line treatment in selected patients. Single-pill combinations of two complementary antihypertensive medications offer benefits beyond those of separate administration of the individual component agents, providing a simpler medication regimen that is effective and well tolerated while enhancing patient adherence to therapy. In the future, there may be single-pill combinations of three antihypertensive drugs to further enhance BP control rates.