THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL BLOOD PRESSURE STUDY *

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Abstract
The National Blood Pressure Study was initiated to provide certain information necessary for community based efforts to control hypertension particularly in regard to the treatment of mild hypertension. In four centres throughout Australia men and women aged 30 to 69 years are being screened and the response to various screening methods evaluated. Subjects with mild hypertension (diastolic blood pressure 95 to 109 mm Hg) and free of certain exclusion factors will enter a randomized therapeutic trial to last five years. Some 80,000 will be screened to provide the 3,200 necessary for the trial. Screening commenced in June, 1973. Preliminary results from three centres are presented to show the response of the community, the general pattern of blood pressure and the complications in the screened population. They show that the prevalence of hypertension in Australia is high. In this non‐random sample some 9% of those attending for screening were hypertensive according to the criteria set out and almost two‐thirds of these were not previously aware of this fact. It is concluded that sufficient numbers of people in Australia are willing to participate in a screening programme associated with a controlled therapeutic trial to encourage the belief that such a trial is practicable in this community.