Exam (elaborations) NCSBN empowers and supports nursing regulators in

Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that WHO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer along with the suggested citation: “This translation was not created by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original English edition shall be the binding and authentic edition”. Any mediation relating to disputes arising under the licence shall be conducted in accordance with the mediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization ( Suggested citation. Guideline for the pharmacological treatment of hypertension in adults. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) data. CIP data are available at Sales, rights and licensing. To purchase WHO publications, see submit requests for commercial use and queries on rights and licensing, see Third-party materials. If you wish to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that reuse and to obtain permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user. General disclaimers. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted and dashed lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement. The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by WHO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters. All reasonable precautions have been taken by WHO to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. In no event shall WHO be liable for damages arising from its use. Contents Acknowledgements v Acronyms and abbreviations vi Executive summary vii 1 Introduction 1 2 Method for developing the guideline 3 2.1 Guideline contributors 3 2.2 Analytical framework and PICOs 3 2.3 Outcome importance rating 4 2.4 Reviews of evidence 4 2.5 Certainty of evidence and strength of recommendations 5 2.6 Deciding upon recommendations 6 2.7 Funding 6 3 Recommendations 7 3.1 Blood pressure threshold for initiation of pharmacological treatment 7 3.2 Laboratory testing before and during pharmacological treatment 8 3.3 Cardiovascular disease risk assessment as guide to initiation of antihypertensive medications 10 3.4 Drug classes to be used as first-line agents 11 3.5 Combination therapy