Page 5 - GUIAS ESC ESH 2018

ESC/ESH Guidelines 5

. .
SCOPE Study on Cognition and Prognosis in the . . . and updated. The Task Force received its entire financial support
Elderly . . from the ESC and ESH without any involvement from the healthcare
SCORE Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation . . . . industry.
SHEP Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program . . . The ESC CPG supervises and coordinates the preparation of new
SPC Single-pill combination . . . Guidelines. The Committee is also responsible for the endorsement
SPRINT Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial . . . process of these Guidelines. The ESC Guidelines undergo extensive
STOP-H Swedish Trial in Old Patients with . . . review by the CPG and external experts, and in this case by ESH -
Hypertension . . . appointed experts. After appropriate revisions the Guidelines are
SUCH Sustained uncontrolled hypertension . . . approved by all the experts involved in the Task Force. The finalized
Syst-China Systolic Hypertension in China . . . document is approved by the CPG and ESH for publication in the
Syst-Eur Systolic Hypertension in Europe . . . European Heart Journal and in the Journal of Hypertension as well as
TIA Transient ischaemic attack . . . Blood Pressure. The Guidelines were developed after careful consid-
TTE Transthoracic echocardiography . . . eration of the scientific and medical knowledge and the evidence
VALUE Valsartan Antihypertensive Long-term Use . . . available at the time of their dating.
Evaluation . . . The task of developing ESC and ESH Guidelines also includes the
VEGF Vascular endothelial growth factor . . . creation of educational tools and implementation programmes for
WUCH White-coat uncontrolled hypertension . . . . . . the recommendations including condensed pocket guideline ver-
sions, summary slides, booklets with essential messages, summary

tions (smartphones, etc.). These versions are abridged and thus, if
1 Preamble . . . . . . . . cards for non-specialists and an electronic version for digital applica-
needed, one should always refer to the full text version, which is
Guidelines summarize and evaluate available evidence with the aim of . . . . freely available via the ESC AND ESH websites and hosted on the
assisting health professionals in selecting the best management strat- . . . EHJ AND JOURNAL OF HYPERTENSION websites. The National
egies for an individual patient with a given condition. Guidelines and . . . Societies of the ESC are encouraged to endorse, translate and imple-
their recommendations should facilitate decision making of health . . . ment all ESC Guidelines. Implementation programmes are needed
professionals in their daily practice. However, the final decisions con- . . . because it has been shown that the outcome of disease may be
cerning an individual patient must be made by the responsible health . . . favourably influenced by the thorough application of clinical
professional(s) in consultation with the patient and caregiver as . . . recommendations.
appropriate. . . . Surveys and registries are needed to verify that real-life daily prac-
A great number of guidelines have been issued in recent years by . . . tice is in keeping with what is recommended in the guidelines, thus
the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and by the European . . . completing the loop between clinical research, writing of guidelines,
Society of Hypertension (ESH), as well as by other societies and . . . . disseminating them and implementing them into clinical practice.
organisations. Because of the impact on clinical practice, quality crite- . . . Health professionals are encouraged to take the ESC and ESH
ria for the development of guidelines have been established in order . . . Guidelines fully into account when exercising their clinical judgment,
to make all decisions transparent to the user. The recommendations . . . as well as in the determination and the implementation of preventive,
for formulating and issuing ESC Guidelines can be found on the . . . diagnostic or therapeutic medical strategies. However, the ESC and
ESC website (http://www.escardio.org/Guidelines-&-Education/Clinical- . . . ESH Guidelines do not override in any way whatsoever the individual
Practice-Guidelines/Guidelines-development/Writing-ESC-Guidelines). . . . responsibility of health professionals to make appropriate and accu-
ESC Guidelines represent the official position of the ESC on a given . . . rate decisions in consideration of each patient’s health condition and
topic and are regularly updated. . . . in consultation with that patient or the patient’s caregiver where
Members of this Task Force were selected by the ESC and ESH to . . . appropriate and/or necessary. It is also the health professional’s
represent professionals involved with the medical care of patients . . . responsibility to verify the rules and regulations applicable to drugs
with this pathology. Selected experts in the field undertook a com- . . . and devices at the time of prescription.
prehensive review of the published evidence for management of a . . .
given condition according to ESC Committee for Practice Guidelines . . .
.
(CPG) policy and approved by the ESH. A critical evaluation of diag- . . 2 Introduction
nostic and therapeutic procedures was performed, including assess- . . .
ment of the risk–benefit ratio. The level of evidence and the strength . . . Substantial progress has been made in understanding the epidemiol-
of the recommendation of particular management options were . . . ogy, pathophysiology, and risk associated with hypertension, and a
weighed and graded according to predefined scales, as outlined in . . . wealth of evidence exists to demonstrate that lowering blood pres-
Tables 1 and 2. . . . sure (BP) can substantially reduce premature morbidity and mortal-
The experts of the writing and reviewing panels provided declara- . . . ity. 1–10 A number of proven, highly effective, and well-tolerated
tion of interest forms for all relationships that might be perceived as . . . lifestyle and drug treatment strategies can achieve this reduction in
real or potential sources of conflicts of interest. These forms were . . . . BP. Despite this, BP control rates remain poor worldwide and are far
compiled into one file and can be found on the ESC website (http:// . . . from satisfactory across Europe. Consequently, hypertension
www.escardio.org/guidelines). Any changes in declarations of interest . . . remains the major preventable cause of cardiovascular disease
that arise during the writing period were notified to the ESC and ESH . (CVD) and all-cause death globally and in our continent. 11–14

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