Prevention of coronary artery disease: recent advances in the management of hypertension.

As coronary artery disease (CAD) still represents the leading cause of death worldwide, more efforts should be made to improve CAD prevention with both lifestyle changes and medical treatment. Elevated blood pressure has been identified as a risk factor for CAD; however, recent evidence suggests that lowering blood pressure too much could be harmful in patients at high cardiovascular risk. Despite the availability of a wide selection of antihypertensive drugs, new strategies and treatments are needed to improve blood pressure control and reduce cardiovascular risk factors associated with elevated blood pressure. New fixed-dose combinations have been recently approved; they usually contain an inhibitor of the renin-angiotensin system, a calcium antagonist and/or a diuretic. Although research and development related to new antihypertensive drugs has slowed in recent years, some new antihypertensive compounds with novel mechanisms of action or dual activity are currently in clinical development.