4.2.4. Applications to Antihypertensive Treatment in Humans

Our results on animals clearly show the advantages of an early start of an effective antihypertensive therapy, in particular with respect to preventing cardiac remodeling and thus transition into cardiac failure. This emphasizes the importance of starting BP control during early adulthood. Important aspects of antihypertensive treatment in humans are fast achievement of target BP values and adequate persistence and adherence to therapy. A combination of two or three drugs from different drug classes facilitates the adjustment of treatment to the individual patient as it allows dose reduction of the single drugs and minimization of adverse drug effects, thus ensuring the patient's adherence to therapy. Consequently, a combination of two or more, ideally as fixed-dose single-pill administration, as initial therapy of hypertension is currently recommended in most guidelines [4,22].
