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A policy for hypertension.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Short, David R. |
| Copyright Year | 1976 |
| Abstract | 'In no other division of medicine is opinion more confused than in that which deals with the cause and significance of a high blood pressure, and with the progress and treatment of any patient who may exhibit it.' So wrote William Evans in I957, and it must be admitted that his words are just as true i8 years later, at least so far as the significance and treatment of hypertension are concerned. Thousands of man-hours have been spent during the past few years on symposia and publications debating which individuals with hypertension require treatment and whether populations should be screened. On the one hand, there is widespread enthusiasm for the treatment of mild hypertension, while on the other there are still those who seem to believe that a high blood pressure is best ignored if there is no evidence that it is harming the patient. The truth must lie somewhere between these extremes. It is unthinkable that one-third to one-quarter of men and women in any community should require lifelong drug treatment. Yet this is what is implied by the suggestion (Lancet, 1975) that all those with a diastolic pressure of 95 mmHg (i2.6 kPa) or over should be on antihypertensive therapy; for approximately 30 per cent of men and women between the ages of 35 and 65 in Britain have a diastolic pressure in this range (Hamilton et al., I954; Miall and Lovell, I967; Hawthorne, Greaves, and Beevers, I974). It is equally ridiculous to suggest that a symptomless man with a diastolic pressure of 170 mmHg (22.6 kPa) should be left untreated. This is a time for stocktaking. Though there are important trials in progress, clear results from these are not likely to be available for several years. We must, therefore, make up our minds on a careful consideration of the evidence we have. |
| Starting Page | 539 |
| Ending Page | 539 |
| Page Count | 1 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://heart.bmj.com/content/heartjnl/37/9/893.full.pdf |
| PubMed reference number | 18610256v1 |
| Volume Number | 38 |
| Issue Number | 5 |
| Journal | British heart journal |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Antihypertensive Agents Burnett Schwartz Berberian syndrome Confusion Diastole Diastolic blood pressure Hospital admission Hypertensive disease Lancet Patients torr |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
