Patient profiling: individualization of hypertension therapy.

Although the stepped-care approach remains the cornerstone of antihypertensive therapy, the patient's profile must also be considered. Important issues include the patient's age, race and activity level, potential for hypertensive complications, presence of other diseases, cost of medications and probability of adherence to the recommended drug regimen. Nonpharmacologic treatment based on lifestyle changes is a useful adjunct to drug therapy, but it is not sufficient to control hypertension in most patients. Selection of pharmacologic therapy must be based on a knowledge of each drug's mode of action and side effects, as well as the characteristics of special patient populations.