Abstract

The effect of an intervention programme in general practices was evaluated. The programme focussed, among other things, on screening for hypertension and offering hypertensives non-pharmacological treatment according to a standardized protocol. The change in blood pressure over a span of one year in the intervention group (N=333) was compared to that in control subjects from a monitoring project on cardiovascular diseases (N=188). A significant larger mean decrease in diastolic bloodpressure of 2.5 mm Hg was observed in the intervention group. Although the measurement conditions were not totally alike for the baseline and evaluation measurement a decrease of 2.5 mm Hg seems a reasonable estimate of the effectiveness of the programme.