Cost-effectiveness calculations from trials.

EFFECTIVENESS OF ANTIHYPERTENSIVE THERAPY: Data on the effectiveness of antihypertensive therapy derived from the results of large clinical trials are of great importance, but also have a number of significant flaws and probably underestimate the real effectiveness of treatment. In the next few years much more information is likely to become available on the effects of the newer classes of drugs and thus evaluations of cost-effectiveness will have fewer limitations than at present. ECONOMIC VALUE OF SAVING A LIFE: Today, in every country worldwide, priority should be given to determining the economic cost of avoiding the morbidity and mortality caused by hypertension. Each society must decide the price per life-year gained that it is willing to pay. This is the most difficult task of all, since the economic value of saving a life is not easily evaluable.