Diuretics: cornerstone of antihypertensive therapy.

Diuretics have been used less often for the treatment of hypertension over the past few years for a variety of reasons. However, their use will almost certainly go back up for many reasons, including the recent publication of trials with appropriately low doses of diuretics that have shown excellent protection against the major cardiovascular causes of death. Moreover, resistance to antihypertensive therapy is most commonly caused by inadequate diuretic therapy. Therefore, I believe diuretics will continue to be a cornerstone of antihypertensive therapy in the future.