[Treatment of hypertension in Japan--the present condition and future prospects]

In Japan, hypertension (HT) is the second greatest cause of death from non-communicable diseases next to tobacco. The 2007 National Health and Nutrition Survey showed that only half of HT patient currently receiving drugs for the control of high blood pressure. And the proportion of undiagnosed and untreated patients in Japan was greater than estimated numbers reported from the 2007 US Survey. Calcium channel blocker is the most commonly used antihypertensive drug class following angiotensin receptor blocker which is very different from US. In order to ameliorating hypertension, life style modification, "Project of Health Japan 21", "Tailor-made medicine using candidate gene of essential hypertension", and "Quality of blood pressure control", such as control of night time blood pressure, control of central blood pressure, and blood pressure variability are required more in future.