June 18， 2010-6-18

      At a press conference held here in Oslo on the first day of the ESH 2010 meeting， many of the key members of the ESH Council presented some of the highlights and important topics from this year’s meeting.

    The press conference was opened by Professor Sverre Kjeldsen， Chairman of the Organizing Committee， 20th European Meeting on Hypertension， who pointed out that there are 1890 abstracts， each of which was reviewed by five reviewers. He further noted that there are delegates from 106 countries and 5 continents. The congress will consist of 119 meetings， including abstracts， breakfast meetings， and joint sessions with other societies. In addition， industry is well represented with 7 satellite symposiums and more than 33 exhibitors taking part. The attendance is quite impressive with 5338 pre-registered delegates and attendance is expected to top 6000， which makes ESH the largest hypertension congress in the world this year. Finally， he noted that there were grants provided to young investigators to attend the meeting.

    The next speaker， Professor Krzysztof Narkiewicz， President European Society of Hypertension， focused on the problem of sleep apnea and its relationship with hypertension. He pointed out that sleep apnea is not a benign condition and people who suffer from sleep apnea are at high for hypertension and CVD. They are particularly at risk for sudden cardiac death at night. Interestingly， these people are also have 10x the risk of car accidents. Also， 40% of those with a BMI greater than 40 suffer from sleep apnea. Summing up， he stated that early diagnosis is the key in treating this condition. Professor Peter Nilsson followed by focusing on the problem of hypertension and diabetes. He noted that the majority of type 2 diabetes patients require hypertension intervention. One emerging topic that he touched on is EVA (Early Vascular Ageing) and the fact that there is now some evidence to show ongoing EVA in patients with diabetes. These members of the council gave an excellent preview of the excellent content upcoming at ESH 2010 Oslo.