OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness in the modification of cardiovascular risk (CVR) according to WHO-ISH guidelines of an educative personalized intervention in hypertensive (HT) patients in primary care. METHODS: Observational, prospective and controlled study. Two hundred seventy-nine general practitioners (GP) were recruited throughout Spain. HT patients were followed for six months. Investigators were cluster-randomized to Control group (CG) and Intervention group (IG). The CG investigators did usual clinical practice, whereas IG investigators did usual clinical practice plus a personalized educative intervention, which consisted in the ad hoc printing by using a specific software of educative leaflets oriented to the modification of life habits and to control of cardiovascular risk factors for each patient. RESULTS: HT patients totaling 4,019 were evaluated. Both groups were comparative at baseline with respect to sociodemographic variables and CVR distribution. The IG showed a statistically significant and clinically relevant improvement in hypertension control (54.1% of controlled hypertension in IG vs. 48.0% in CG; p <0.01). The final CVR distribution was significantly better in the IG than in the CG. The IG patients improved significantly their knowledge of hypertension disease (from 36.8% to 80.6% of good knowledge in IG vs from 32.5% to 70.0% in CG; p <0.001). There were no differences in the evolution of smoking, cholesterol and obesity. The overall satisfaction with medical care was higher in the IG. Of the patients, 90.9% answered "Always" to the question "When you talk to your physician, does he/she answer clearly to your questions?" vs 51.5% of patients in CG (p <0.05). CONCLUSION: The proposed procedure for the personalized educative activity with the hypertensive patient has proven to be feasible and useful for hypertension and CVR control in general practitioners. The intervention seems to improve knowledge about hypertension and satisfaction level with medical care.