The aim of this guide is to provide clinicians with practical reference for the management of hypertensive patients with other cardiovascular risk factors, which originate from impaired metabolic functions. With the aid of carefully selected, paradigmatic case studies, the physician will find sound advice for the best approach to common but often under-recognized clinical situations, and answers to practical questions that arise when a specific condition is not directly addressed in the guidelines. Question-and-answer sections will help the reader to identify at a glance the most complex steps in the diagnostic and therapeutic process.

In a “real world” clinical setting, the hypertensive patient rarely presents with hypertension as the only cardiovascular risk factor, and is more likely to be affected by other metabolic risk factors, such as impairment of lipid metabolism, glucose homeostasis, and purine metabolism, and by overweight or obesity. These cases will serve as a basis for analyzing best practice, highlighting problems in diagnosis and treatment, and selecting the most appropriate management of patients with metabolic risk factors in everyday practice.