Preventing hypertension--an exercise in social engineering.

101 A large number of population surveys from different parts of the globe have consistently demonstrated hypertension to be a ubiquitous disease1-5 encompassing all ethnic groups and geographic regions. The disease affects both sexes and more and more patients are turning up at younger ages. Hypertension is the leading member of the group of so called “non-communicable diseases” (NCD) and a leading contributory cause of death worldwide6. Future growth in numbers is projected to outstrip population growth by a factor of 27! It is believed that hypertension contributes about 57 per cent towards all deaths from strokes and 24 per cent towards all deaths from coronary artery disease5. The contribution towards morbidity from these crippling diseases, as also chronic renal failure, would be staggering indeed.