The 2000 Canadian recommendations for the management of hypertension: Part one--therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To provide updated, evidence-based recommendations for the therapy of hypertension in adults. OPTIONS: For patients with hypertension, there are a number of lifestyle manoeuvres and antihypertensive agents that may control blood pressure. Randomized trials evaluating first- line therapy with thiazides, beta-adrenergic antagonists, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, alpha-blockers, centrally acting agents or angiotensin II receptor antagonists were reviewed. OUTCOMES: The health outcomes considered were changes in blood pressure, cardiovascular morbidity, and cardiovascular and/or all-cause mortality rates. Economic outcomes were not considered due to insufficient evidence. EVIDENCE: Medline searches were conducted from the period of the last revision of the Canadian Recommendations for the Management of Hypertension (May 1998 to October 2000). Reference lists were scanned, experts were polled, and the personal files of the subgroup members and authors were used to identify other studies. All relevant articles were reviewed and appraised, using prespecified levels of evidence, by content experts and methodological experts. VALUES: A high value was placed on the avoidance of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. BENEFITS, HARMS, AND COSTS: Various lifestyle manoeuvres and antihypertensive agents reduce the blood pressure of patients with sustained hypertension. In certain settings, and for specific classes of drugs, blood pressure lowering has been associated with reduced cardiovascular morbidity and/or mortality. RECOMMENDATIONS: The present document contains detailed recommendations pertaining to all aspects of the therapy of patients with hypertension, including lifestyle modifications proven to lower blood pressure, treatment thresholds, target blood pressures, choice of agents in various settings and strategies to enhance adherence. Lower thresholds for blood pressure treatment are advocated for people with other cardiovascular risk factors or established hypertensive target organ damage. Implicit in the recommendations for therapy is the principle that treatment should be individualized for each patient and the choice of agent should be dictated by coexistent conditions. For the treatment of uncomplicated essential hypertension, thiazides, beta-adrenergic antagonists, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or calcium channel blockers may be appropriate, depending on individual circumstances. VALIDATION: All recommendations were graded according to strength of the evidence and voted on by the Canadian Hypertension Recommendations Working Group. Only those recommendations achieving high levels of consensus are reported here. These guidelines will be updated annually.

The 2000 Canadian recommendations for the management of hypertension: part two--diagnosis and assessment of people with high blood pressure.

OBJECTIVE: To provide updated, evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and assessment of high blood pressure in adults. OPTIONS: For people with high blood pressure, the assignment of a diagnosis of hypertension depends on the appropriate measurement of blood pressure, the level of the blood pressure elevation, the duration of follow-up and the presence of concomitant vascular risk factors, target organ damage and established atherosclerotic diseases. For people diagnosed with hypertension, defining the overall risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes requires laboratory testing, a search for target organ damage and an assessment of the modifiable causes of hypertension. Out-of-clinic blood pressure assessment and echocardiography are options for selected patients. OUTCOMES: People at increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes and were identified and quantified. EVIDENCE: Medline searches were conducted from the period of the last revision of the Canadian recommendations for the management of hypertension (May 1998 to October 2000). Reference lists were scanned, experts were polled, and the personal files of the subgroup members and authors were used to identify other studies. All relevant articles were reviewed and appraised, using prespecified levels of evidence, by content experts and methodological experts. VALUES: A high value was placed on the identification of people at increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. BENEFITS, HARMS AND COSTS: The identification of people at higher risk of cardiovascular disease will permit counselling for lifestyle manoeuvres and the introduction of antihypertensive drugs to reduce blood pressure for patients with sustained hypertension. In certain settings, and for specific classes of drugs, blood pressure lowering has been associated with reduced cardiovascular morbidity and/or mortality. RECOMMENDATIONS: The present document contains detailed recommendations pertaining to aspects of the diagnosis and assessment of patients with hypertension, including the accurate measurement of blood pressure, criteria for the diagnosis of hypertension and recommendations for follow-up, routine and optional laboratory testing, assessment for renovascular hypertension, home and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, and the role of echocardiography in hypertension. VALIDATION: All recommendations were graded according to strength of the evidence and voted on by the Canadian Hypertension Recommendations Working Group. Only the recommendations achieving high levels of consensus are reported here. These guidelines will be updated annually. ENDORSEMENT: These recommendations are endorsed by the Canadian Hypertension Society, The Canadian Coalition for High Blood Pressure Prevention and Control, The College of Family Physicians of Canada, The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, The Adult Disease Division and Bureau of Cardio-Respiratory Diseases and Diabetes at the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control of Health Canada.

Cost-benefit analyses in the health-care literature: don't judge a study by its label.

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether health-care related economic evaluations labeled as "cost benefit analyses" (CBA) meet a contemporary definition of CBA methodology and to assess the prevalence of methods used for assigning monetary units to health outcomes. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Current Contents, and HSTAR databases and reference lists of review articles, 1991-1995. STUDY SELECTION: Economic analyses labeled as CBAs were included. Agreement on study selection was assessed. STUDY EVALUATION: CBA studies were classified according to standard definitions of economic analytical techniques. For those valuing health outcomes in monetary units (bona fide CBAs), the method of valuation was classified. RESULTS: 53% of 95 studies were reclassified as cost comparisons because health outcomes were not appraised. Among the 32% considered bona fide CBAs, the human capital approach was employed to value health states in monetary units in 70%. Contingent valuation methods were employed infrequently (13%). CONCLUSIONS: Studies labeled as CBAs in the health-care literature often offer only partial program evaluation. Decisions based only on resource costs are unlikely to improve efficiency in resource allocation. Among bona fide CBAs, the human capital approach was most commonly used to valuing health, despite its limitations. The results of health-care related CBAs should be interpreted with extreme caution.