Did multifocal efforts to detect and treat high blood pressure improve hypertension awareness and control in the US between 1973 and 1978?
Public health efforts in the 1970s to detect and treat hypertension led to substantial improvements in blood pressure awareness and control across all demographics.
To determine whether the immense multifocal efforts in the United States over the past 7 years to detect and treat high blood pressure (BP), had affected the status of hypertension, data from a national household survey in 1973-74 were compared with data obtained in 1977-78 from a second non-overlapping population in the same three communities. The impact of hypertension programs was measured by assessing change over the 5-year period in BP distribution, degree of awareness, and level of treatment in the population. Our data show that a substantial improvement in the status of high BP detection, treatment, and control has occurred since the early 1970s for all age, sex, and race groups studied.
Apostolides et al. (Mon,) studied this question.