The affiliations of Task Force members are listed in the Appendix. Their Disclosure forms are available on the respective society Web Sites.

These guidelines also appear in the European Heart Journal, doi: 10/1093/eurheartj/ehm236

^*Correspondence to Giuseppe Mancia, Clinica Medica, Ospedale San Gerardo, Università Milano-Bicocca, Via Pergolesi, 33 – 20052 MONZA (Milano), Italy Tel: +39 039 233 3357; fax: +39 039 32 22 74, e-mail: giuseppe.mancia@unimib.it

^*Correspondence to Guy de Backer, Dept. of Public Health, University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium Tel: +32 9 240 3627; fax: +32 9 240 4994; e-mail: Guy.DeBacker@ugent.be