Background The 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines on
hypertension management recommend the introduction of
antihypertensive treatment for patients with new stage 1
hypertension thresholds (130-139/80-89 mm Hg) and with a
cardiovascular disease or related condition. We compared the Swiss population and economic impact of
antihypertensive treatment of the 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines with the 2013 European guidelines. Methods Analyses were based on 4438 participants (aged 45-85 years; 2448 women) of the CoLaus|PsyCoLaus study recruited between 2014-2017. Participants eligible for
antihypertensive treatment according to the 2017 ACC/AHA and 2013 European guidelines were sex and age standardised using the Swiss population for 2016. In addition, we estimated the population-wide annual costs of
antihypertensive treatment. Results Individuals eligible for
antihypertensive treatment were 40.3% (95% confidence interval 38.5-42.1) and 31.3% (29.7-32.9) according to the 2017 ACC/AHA and 2013 European guidelines, respectively. That difference would translate into approximately 250,000 additional individuals eligible for
antihypertensive treatment, corresponding to an additional annual cost of 72.5 million CHF (63.0 million EUR). Conclusion The 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines on the management of
hypertension substantially increase the number of individuals eligible for
antihypertensive treatment compared to the 2013 European guidelines. While implementation of the 2017 ACC/AHA guidelines is expected to lead to cost reduction by preventing
cardiovascular diseases, that reduction might be mitigated by the costs incurred by
antihypertensive treatments in a larger proportion of the population.