A recent MEDLINE search for the years 1966 to 2000 revealed 95,915 publications on the treatment of hypertension. This article focuses on clinical points that the obstetrician-gynecologist will find useful in treating nonpregnant patients with hypertension. The information is largely drawn from the Sixth Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure, which was published in 1997.<sup>10 Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure The Sixth Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure Arch Intern Med 1997 ;  157 : 2413-2446

Cliccare qui per andare alla sezione Riferimenti</sup> The wisdom of some of these recommendations is discussed in view of new findings in the last 3 years.

Most hypertension is essential or idiopathic. The secondary causes listed below should be sought in patients with new-onset hypertension at ages greater than 60 or less than 20 years, hypertension resistant to a three-drug regimen, hypokalemia, abdominal bruit, cushingoid features, sudden acceleration of hypertension after previously good control, no family history of hypertension, or spells of anxiety and diaphoresis associated with increased blood pressure.

Approximately 20% of the US adult population has hypertension (blood pressure ≥140/90 mm Hg or under treatment with antihypertensive drugs).