[Moderate arterial hypertension during its natural course and in drug correction]

The clinical and morbid anatomy data on 295 patients with arterial hypertension were examined. Two hundred patients had moderate hypertension with the diastolic pressure under 110 mm Hg. Of these, 103 patients had received rauwolfia drugs and 13 patients had been given hypothiazide in addition. Eighty patients who died before 1953 had not received any specific hypotensive drugs. Early hypotensive therapy of moderate hypertension was noted to promote a decrease in arterial blood pressure to normal and to raise the mean lifespan by 8 years. Furthermore the number of fatal brain strokes and myocardial infarctions decreased almost 2-fold.