Future Treatment of Hypertension: Shifting the Focus from Blood Pressure Lowering to Arterial Stiffness Modulation?

Isolated systolic hypertension is the commonest form of hypertension from middle age onwards. Achieving target systolic blood pressure (BP) control remains difficult in everyday clinical practice and even under clinical trial conditions. Most antihypertensive medicines were designed to lower peripheral vascular resistance, which was considered the haemodynamic determinant of hypertension; most are effective in reducing steady but not pulsatile components of BP. Arterial stiffness, defined via aortic length-specific pulse wave velocity (PWV), is thought to be an important determinant of pulse pressure widening through its effects on the timing and amplitude of pressure wave reflection, and/or the aorta's Windkessel function, or its excess 'reservoir' pressure. Whereas pulse pressure is neither an independent nor consistent cardiovascular risk factor, particularly below the age of about 60 years, PWV has become the most powerful predictor of cardiovascular outcomes including mortality, independent of systolic, pulse, mean or other BP components. PWV is therefore a more direct target for treatment. This review addresses the potential therapeutic options for targeting arterial stiffness and the role of pulse pressure.