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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 26, 1972

HEW Secretary Elliot L. Richardson today announced a nation-wide program
of professional and public information on high blood pressure, the most common
of the heart and blood vessel diseases.

He appointed two committees, which met at the National Institutes of Health
on Monday, July 24, and at HEW the following morning, to help plan this effort.

One of the two committees, a Hypertension Information and Education
Advisory Committee, is composed of 12 members, chosen for their specialized
knowledge of hypertension or communications.

The second committee is an Interagency Working Group, composed of
representatives of Federal agencies, who will promote exchange of scientific infor-
mation and provide program coordination in the professional conimunity.

At its meeting, the Advisory Committee recommended a four-step plan for
launching a National Hypertension Program: ( 1) agreement on the standards
and conditions for treatment; (2) education of professional health workers;

(3) a widespread program of public information on hypertension; and (4) a
study of the impact of an expanded hypertension program on the health care delivery
system, and an assessment of the need for additional resources.

In announcing the plan, Secretary Richardson noted that hypertension may
cause the deaths of as many as 60,000 Americans each year, and that it plays a
major role in deaths from stroke and in heart attacks.

tl am convinced," he said, that we can prevent many of these deaths if we
mount a program to inform both the profession and the general public about the
benefits of early detection and management. We need to put our scientific knowledge

into practice as quickly and efficiently as possible."

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
National Institutes of Health
-2-

The director of the National Heart and Lung Institute, Dr. Theodore
Cooper, pointed out that research over the past two decades has provided new
and effective drugs for the treatment of hypertension. However, he noted that
only about 20 percent of hypertensives are on adequate therapy.

He added that inroads against hypertension and related heart disease and
stroke will be made by the education program recommended by the Advisory
Committee. He also said that research should continue, to find the causes and

mechanisms of hypertension.