Hypertension control in North Karelia before the intervention of the North Karelia Project.

The baseline survey of the North Karelia Project was carried out to measure the level of cardiovascular risk factors in the target population. These data on the prevalence, detection and treatment of hypertension obtained in the survey were utilized in planning the main programme. The survey was carried out in 1972 and 4275 persons aged from 25 to 59 (6.5% random sample) were examined. The prevalence of hypertension was high--21% of women and 15% of men were judged as being in need of treatment for hypertension. The blood pressure level of men was higher than that of women below 45 years of age, but in all age groups women were more often undergoing treatment. Although majority of people had had their blood pressure checked recently, only half of those who were aware of hypertension had ever been under treatment, and at the time of examination only 13% of those men and 10% of those women had restored normotension. Only one-fifth and one-third of the women who had used drugs had been under treatment for more than 5 years. Thus, the need to provide a systematic hypertension control scheme in North Karelia was urgent, as described in many other communities in the developed world. The main reason for this lies in the inability of the health care system which has not been able to maintain patients on long-term follow-up and treatment.