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Experts Talk About: Future Goals

Dr. Roccella: You have both been involved in national policy issues and with major research studies. This is a loaded question, but what would you wish for in terms of hypertension prevention, control, or research issues that you would like to see this country deal with?

Ms. Houston Miller: I can tell you one thing that I would like to see from a population standpoint is that we were able to lower systolic blood pressure by somewhere between 2 mmHg and 5 mmHg in general. This means there would be public health approaches to this condition that would include everything from ensuring that kids at a young age have physical activity in school to addressing the high rate of overweight and obesity in this country. To really effect change, we'd have to work with the food and salt industry to lower sodium in the diet. This is a huge goal, but I think it is one that would really prevent so much of the disease burden that we are seeing.

Dr. Roccella: The High Blood Pressure Education Program is one of the largest public health education programs in this country, and it has reported some pretty remarkable results. As two of the program's architects, is it your view that the low hanging fruit has been picked and now the remaining part of preventing, treating, and controlling high blood pressure is going to be more difficult? Or will it be even easier with all the data and information that we now have?

Dr. Black: Well, in a credit to you and to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's 35-year campaign against high blood pressure, today people are aware of hypertension. This is reflected in our national stroke mortality data, which has dropped dramatically. This means fewer people are dying from strokes.

There is certainly more to do. The public needs to know that there are treatments of all sorts that work. We have to provide them with information, advice, and an understanding of how to do it.

Ms. Houston Miller: I agree that we have made huge strides, and the national surveys -- the national health and nutrition examination surveys -- show that over three, almost four decades, the awareness of high blood pressure has increased substantially, the treatment has increased, and we are certainly seeing better control for individuals who are receiving clinical care.

As Henry has said, I think we are equipped now with the tools to do an even better job. Groups like Sister to Sister, which put out this important information to the public, help us to continuously move in the right direction toward preventing and better controlling high blood pressure.

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Click these links to read more from Sister to Sister’s Expert Roundtable on High Blood Pressure:

Introduction
Blood Pressure Basics
Symptoms & Screening
Treatment Benefits
Treatment Options
Drug Side Effects
Drug Interactions
Medication Costs
Prehypertension
Aging's Impact
High-Risk Groups
Future Goals