Antihypertensive Treatment and Blood Pressure in Diabetic and Nondiabetic Patients The lower, the better?

International guidelines on hyperten-sion recommend maintaining bloodpressure (BP) below 140 mmHg sys-tolic and 90 mmHg diastolic in the general hypertensive population up to the age of 80 years. A more aggressive BP target is recommended when the hyper-tensive patient has an additional risk for cardiovascular disease, such as if the patient has diabetes, renal disease, or a prior history of cardiovascular disease. In these situations, guidelines encourage decreasing BP below 130/80 mmHg to grant additional cardiovascular protec-tion (1–3). In the last 2 years, the target BP values recommended by guideline