[Detection of unrecognized hypertensives. A duty for longterm attendance (author's transl)].

The magnitude of the problem of hypertension is reflected in figures from the United States and Europe: with an incidence of about 15% of hypertensives in the adult population, about 1/3 of these individuals are unrecognized, a further third are indeed recognized but only inadequately treated or not at all, and only 1/3 are being satisfactorily treated. For this reason, not only the detection of unrecognized hypertensives must be dealt with, but also the problem of longterm supervision must be gone into at the same time. Were the adult population of the Federal Republic of Germany to be included in a "filter" investigation, about 3 million confirmed untreated hypertensives would have to be examined further and possibly treated. Also in an investigation of much smaller extent, the question of efficiency and tolerance must be raised.