The costs of treating hypertension.

Recent surveys in the U.S. have reported, for the first time, that a significant number of patients with hypertension are finding that the cost of medication and treatment in general is an obstacle to treatment. The cost of management of hypertension can be contained if: a) the diagnostic workup is kept simple (this does not include the use of routine echocardiography or 24-hour monitoring) and b) medications that are relatively inexpensive and easily titratable on one or two visits are chosen. Despite some claims to the contrary, there are relatively few instances where significant metabolic changes are noted, regardless of the medication chosen, that require repeated blood determinations or frequent office visits.