UPDATES:HYPERTENSION CASES NOT GOING DOWN

Despite the massive assault of medicine, cases of hypertension (high blood pressure) just aren’t going down. A 36 year follow up by the Framingham study reveals that one in four Americans has high blood pressure.

Researchers reckon that 78 per cent of the hypertension in men and 65 per cent in women is directly caused by obesity. Prevention is better than cure, say the researchers, and there needs to be a strong emphasis on weight control among young and middle aged adults.

!ANew Eng J Med, 1996; 334: 1571-6.