2026 Latin American consensus for the management of patients with hypertension and cardio-renal and metabolic disturbances: endorsed by the Latin American Society of Hypertension, the Iberoamerican Hypertension League, and the World Hypertension League

Abstract

Hypertension is the main risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), affecting 20–40% of Latin American (LATAM) adults, and responsible for more than two million deaths annually due to CVD. The different ethnic, economic, geographic, and cultural characteristics of the LATAM population influence the high prevalence of all cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF), particularly metabolic disturbances such as type 2 diabetes (DM2), obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Their main determinants in LATAM includes environment, food quality, social inequity, low education, political aspects, contextual behaviour, and genetics. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in LATAM increased during the last four decades reaching figures of 10–20% in childhood, 30–40% in adolescence, and 60–70% in adults. Many studies in the region have reported the extremely low rates of awareness, treatment, and control of CVRF in the general population of LATAM, particularly in patients with metabolic disorders, and the consequent high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This 2026 LATAM consensus is developed by a large group of experts from different LATAM countries, the USA and Europe, representing areas of internal medicine, cardiology, nephrology, endocrinology, geriatrics, paediatrics, pharmacology, and epidemiology. A careful search for novel studies in LATAM, together with new evidence that has emerged since the 2019 LATAM consensus, support the statements and recommendations in the current report. This update aims to provide clear and useful recommendations for health professionals to improve awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension and associated CVRF in the region.