Clinical Aspects of Essential Hypertension [antikvár]

Foreword Hypertension has developed rapidly over the last 30 years from the study and care of end-stage renal disease, heart failure and stroke in a small number of patients with severely elevated blood pressure, to a major community-health problem involving a substantial proportion of the population. Over the past 10 years, several well-written 'textbooks' on hypertension have appeared. Some of these undoubtedly appealed to those looking for a systematic approach with compact, concise and comprehensive presentation. We shared a common feeling with our Publisher, that the vast accumulation of biological and clinical knowledge in the field of hypertension has outgrown the limitations of the classical textbook or monograph. Moreover, the subject of hypertension by its very nature is a multidisciplinary one, attracting such diverse professionals as biochemists and public health workers. When one tries to envisage what would happen to a single all-encompassing book, it is clear that it could never satisfy the active workers in the different fields. It would be so unwieldy as to be physically unbalancing to the reader. Some sections would become outdated rapidly whilst others would remain adequate. An alternative option was to escape from the constraints of a single textbook and to reconcile the interests of both generalists and specialists by choosing the format of a serial handbook. The present work has resulted from lengthy deliberations and discussions with many clinicians and scientists. Six volumes have been or are currently under preparation which we believe will be of interest to many different groups including clinicians, clinical investigators, house officers, general practitioners, medical students, pharmacologists, pharmacists, biological scientists, physiologists and epidemiologists. The volumes will appear in the following sequence: 1. Clinical aspects of essential hypertension (Editor: J.I.S. Robertson) 2. Clinical aspects of secondary hypertension (Editor: J.I.S. Robertson) 3. Pharmacology of antihypertensive drugs (Editor: P.A. van Zwieten) 4. Experimental and genetic models of hypertension (Editor: W. de Jong) 5. Clinical pharmacology of antihypertensive drugs (Editor: A.E. Doyle) and 6. Epidemiology of hypertension (Editor: C.J. Bulpitt). Although further volumes are planned, they are at a preliminary stage of development. On this framework, we hope to cater to the needs of the majority of physicians and scientists interested in high blood pressure. Each volume will be complete and separate in its own right, and not dependent on other volumes in the series. Although it is likely that there will be some degree of overlap between volumes, this is unavoidable and, in our view, even desirable in such a broad field. Operationally, these 6 volumes will become available in a time xiii