In hypertensive patients with additional risk factors, a CV event can strike at any time. Improving modifiable risk factors such as BP as quickly as possible is therefore a top priority. In studies, BP control has been shown to reduce event rates as early as a few months after the beginning of treatment, and in the VALUE study, patients in whom BP control was achieved within one month had fewer events compared with those in whom it was achieved later.^1,2

Additionally, treatment guidelines, which used to recommend intiating with monotherapy and then adding treatments if BP remained uncontrolled, now increasingly recognize the importance of early blood pressure control in patients at high CV risk, and recommend initiating with combination therapy.^3,4

The results of the TALENT study are in line with these recommendations, demonstrating that first-line treatment with a combination of the calcium antagonist nifedipine GITS and the angiotensin receptor blocker telmisartan allowed BP control to be achieved earlier than either medication alone in high CV risk hypertensive patients. As the primary goal when treating hypertension is to achieve BP control quickly, these results suggest that the nifedipine GITS/telmisartan combination is a better initial treatment choice than monotherapy.