Health Affairs

Health Affairs, 26, no. 1 (2007): 97-110 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.26.1.97 © 2007 by Project HOPE	New Online   Getting Health Reform Done   After the State of the Union   Incremental Reform   E-Health in Developing World   Most-Read Articles in 2009

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Value & Price

The Value Of Antihypertensive Drugs: A Perspective On Medical Innovation

David M. Cutler, Genia Long, Ernst R. Berndt, Jimmy Royer, Andrée-Anne Fournier, Alicia Sasser and Pierre Cremieux

Using national survey data and risk equations from the Framingham Heart Study, we quantify the impact of antihypertensive therapy changes on blood pressures and the number and cost of heart attacks, strokes, and deaths. Antihypertensive therapy has had a major impact on health. Without it, 1999–2000 average blood pressures (at age 40+) would have been 10–13 percent higher, and 86,000 excess premature deaths from cardiovascular disease would have occurred in 2001. Treatment has generated a benefit-to-cost ratio of at least 6:1, but much more can be achieved. More effective use of antihypertensive medication would have an impact on mortality akin to eliminating all deaths from medical errors or accidents.

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