title: Projected population effects of a nutritional blood pressure intervention on death rates from cardiovascular disease.
abstract: Evidence is accumulating that blood pressure can be modified by dietary changes. To test whether dietary manipulation could have an important effect on CVD death rates in a population, we used the logistic risk function to project the effects of pharmacological and dietary intervention. Successful pharmacological control of 60%, 80%, and 100% of the population with diastolic blood pressure values of 90 mm Hg or more is projected to result in 11%, 14%, and 18% reductions in CVD death rates, respectively. Reducing dietary fat to 23% and increasing the P/S ratio to 0.98 is projected to result in a 47% reduction in CVD death rates. The dietary intervention is projected to reduce the population requiring medication by 50% and reduce costs of hypertension treatment by 30%. On the basis of these projections, we conclude that dietary interventions for hypertension control can have an important effect both on death rates and treatment costs.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012964:Sodium / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D004041:Dietary Fats; D002784:Cholesterol; D012964:Sodium