In Romania, a high cardiovascular (CV) risk East European country, where prevalence of hypertension is still high and optimal blood pressure control still represents a doubtfull challange (1-5), adopting a treatment approach strategy based on total cardiovascular risk assessment can maximize the costeffectiveness of hypertensive patinets management, ensuring the best use of the limited resources of our health-care system, to prevent cardiovascular diseses and to decrease CV morbidity and mortality.
Recent research show that increased arterial stiffness represents an independent predictor of fatal and non-fatal CV events in hypertensive patients (6-10).

Cardiovascular disease prevention showed its utility and efficiency in developed countries, where it lowered the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Instead, in Balkan countries, the mortality due to this pathology displayed an ascendant, worrying curve [1], diagnosis and control of arterial hypertension (HT) representing efficient methods for lowering cardiovascular mortality. Though recent studies didn’t show any significant differences between hypertension prevalence in developed versus developing countries [2], stroke mortality (the best surrogate marker of hypertension effects) was much higher in developing countries. Since modifying genetics was a target impossible to reach for the moment, the only solution was represented by the evaluation and correct treatment (pharmacological and non pharmacological) of arterial hypertension.
As international scientific organisations recom-mend, cardiovascular disease prevention must be implemented in an individualized way in each geo-graphical region, being inappropriate and impossible to apply the same prevention methods globally [3,9]. In this context, the Balkan Peninsula aggregates a number of countries with common geographical and social characteristics, many of them sharing economical transition.