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IV. The Indications and Contraindications for Antihypertensive Drugs

JOHN H. MOYER, M.D.

AMA Arch Intern Med. 1956;98(4):427-443.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

General Considerations

The majority of functional alterations resulting from prolonged or severe hypertension stem from damage to three important vascular beds, the brain, the heart, and the kidneys. When hypertension becomes sufficiently severe and/or is sustained for an adequate period of time, this in itself can produce the vascular deterioration that occurs in these areas.¹ It is rational to treat patients with severe disease, especially when complications exist which have resulted from the elevation in blood pressure. It also seems rational to treat patients with moderately severe disease. Here the objective is to prevent progression and the development of serious complications. Although the treatment of hypertension is still largely empirical, evidence is accumulating rapidly which indicates that the symptoms and complications resulting from severe and prolonged hypertension can be improved by effective reduction of blood pressure, using currently available antihypertensive agents. It follows naturally that the chief indications for . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Houston, Texas

Footnotes
Submitted for publication June 12, 1956.

Professor of Pharmacology, Baylor University College of Medicine.

Supported in part by grants from the Humble Oil Co. and Houston Heart Association.

Read before the Section on Experimental Medicine and Therapeutics Symposium on Management of Hypertension at the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association, Chicago, June 12, 1956.