HTNJ Hypertension Journal ● Vol. 6:1 ● Jan-Mar 2020 A Global Challenge in Need of a Global Strategy Sabu Thomas, John D. Bisognano Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York, United States In ancient Indian Ayurvedic medicine, the quality of a patient’s pulse was correlated with cardiovascular health. A “hard pulse” was probably synonymous with the modern term “hypertension.” The history of hypertension of course would not be complete without describing Dr. Fredrick Akbar Mahomed’s contributions in the late 19 th century. This Irish-Indian physician working in London at the Guy’s hospital frst described conditions that later came to be known as “essential hypertension.” Some of his other important contributions were the demonstration that high blood pressure could exist in apparently healthy individuals, that high blood pressure was more prevalent in the elderly, and that the heart, kidneys, and brain could be afected negatively by high arterial pressure. [1,2] Welcome to this special edition of the Indian Journal of Hypertension in which authors from the University of Rochester explore eight areas in hypertension management that are commonly encountered by the treating clinician. Over the past several years, numerous professional societies have come up with guidelines that difer slightly in blood pressure goals for the general population and sometimes have specifc goals for patients with diabetes, renal disease, or cardiovascular disease. There is profound agreement in the importance of intensive goal-directed treatment of hypertension, and rather than focus on the nuances of the guidelines, we focus on blood pressure measurement, pathophysiology, and diferent approaches to treatment that one may routinely encounter in special populations. Worldwide, the prevalence of hypertension remains high with approximately 1 billion individuals afected and 7.1 million deaths attributed to hypertension each year. [3] Proper treatment of hypertension, therefore, is essential, particularly in populations at the highest risk of cardiovascular and renal disease, which will result in signifcant improvements in public health, adding life-years to the population and conserving limited health-care resources. Blood pressure management, in addition to lipid management and smoking cessation eforts, has entered a golden age of drug therapy with most medications being low cost with low side efects. However, all of these therapies should be used in addition to lifestyle modifcations that include proper diet, moderation of sodium intake, frequent exercise, and eforts at achieving ideal body weight. Public health eforts that decrease the risk of heart attacks, heart failure, stroke, and renal disease include improving diet and educating patients regarding the dangers of smoking and a sedentary lifestyle. We hope that these articles will be helpful in improving your patients’ health. The editors are pleased to acknowledge the helpful guidance, encouragement, and advice from Dr. C. Venkata Ram, Editor- in-Chief, who provided us the opportunity to write these pieces. We would also like to thank Mr. Abhinav Kumar, Executive Director of Incessant Nature Science Publishers for his guidance, assistance, and patience in the editorial process. References 1. Cameron JS, Hicks J. Frederick Akbar Mahomed and his role in the description of hypertension at guy’s hospital. Kidney Int 1996;49:1488-506. 2. O’Rourke MF. Frederic Akbar Mahomed. Hypertension 1992;19:212-7. 3. Ezzati M, Lopez AD, Rodgers A, Vander Hoorn S, Murray CJ, Comparative Risk Assessment Collaborating Group. Selected major risk factors and global and regional burden of disease. Lancet 2002;360:1347-60. E ditorial Tis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Te images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © Tomas S, Bisognano JD. 2020 How to cite this article: Thomas S. Bisognano JD. Hypertens 2020. Hypertens 2020;6(1):1 Source of support: Nil, Confict of interest: None Address for correspondence: Sabu Thomas, Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York, United States. E-mail: sabu_thomas@urmc.rochester.edu Received: 12-03-2020; Accepted: 30-03-2020 doi: 10.15713/ins.johtn.0173