ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes Blood pressure control in the community, although not easy, is a much simpler task than control of nicotine or alcohol dependence, diabetes, schizophrenia, epilepsy, or airways obstruction. In all industrialized countries, even with the generally inadequate care provided since large scale treatment of high blood pressure became possible in the late 1950s, malignant hypertension, then acute left ventricular failure, once fairly common events, became rarities. Neither treatment nor understanding of the causes of high blood pressure has changed fundamentally since the first edition of this book in 1979. In 1992, of 351 patients with information on antecedent diagnosis and treatment, 132 had previously diagnosed hypertension but only 62 of these were receiving antihypertensive medication: of 58 aged less than 70 years, only 27 were medicated.
