Five-year findings of the hypertension detection and follow-up program. III. Reduction in stroke incidence among persons with high blood pressure. Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Program Cooperative Group

The Hypertension Detection and Follow-up Program (HDFP) previously reported a 16.9% reduction in all-cause mortality among its Stepped Care (SC) group, relative to the community-treated Referred Care (RC) group. The current report compares cerebrovascular disease (CV) morbidity and mortality in the SC and RC populations. The SC five-year stroke incidence (1.9 per 100 persons) is significantly lower than that found among the RC (2.9 per 100 persons). Reductions in stroke rates among SC were experienced for all race-sex groups, all diastolic blood pressure strata, all ages, and among those with or without evidence of long-standing hypertension. Comparisons of the CV death rates for SC (1.06 per 1,000 persons) and RC (1.91 per 1,000 persons) with those obtained for the general US population (0.83 per 1,000 persons) indicate that the CV death rate decreased in the SC hypertensive population to a level approaching that of the general US population.