Lifestyle management of blood pressure

Lifestyle modifications are an essential initial approach to the management of blood pressure. To review the current evidence in this area, The British Journal of Cardiology recently convened a round table meeting to look at the lifestyle management of raised blood pressure. It considered the role of dietary changes, exercise, alcohol and weight, and ways of changing patients’ behaviour, on blood pressure. The meeting, held at The Royal Society of Medicine, London, and supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Unilever, was attended by investigators involved in the EUROACTION study. EUROACTION is a European Society of Cardiology demonstration project in preventive cardiology which has just been completed in eight countries in both hospital and primary care. It is evaluating whether a nurse-led multidisciplinary team can help patients and families achieve recommended lifestyle and risk factor reduction targets for cardiovascular disease prevention.