Pharmacological treatment of hypertension has been shown to reduce the risk of stroke, coronary events, heart failure and progression of renal disease. However, rates of successful blood pressure control remain low among treated patients while antihypertensive medication represents a large and...

The introduction of cyclosporin significantly improved solid organ transplantation outcomes. However, the costs associated with immunosuppressive therapy increased from approximately $US1000 to $US2000 per patient per year with azathioprine (AZA) and prednisone to $US5000 to $US8000 per patient...

This study assessed the cost effectiveness of treatments for the primary prevention of coronary heart disease in Spain, which included smoking cessation and reductions in blood cholesterol levels and BP. Cost-effectiveness ratios (measured in terms of $US per life-year gained) ranged from...

Background: Non-adherence to antihypertensive drugs is high, and the economic consequences of non-adherence may be substantial. The Medication Events Monitoring System (MEMS), which is a method to improve adherence, has been shown to be a useful tool for the management of adherence problems....

In hypertension, tolerability of drug treatment is important because individuals may see the use of antihypertensive medications as more troubling than their seemingly symptomless disease. This may result in noncompliance and ineffectual long term treatment. In the past 15 years, new...

Although risk-factor modification has gained wide acceptance as an effective approach to the prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD), health planners, physicians and patients confront considerable uncertainty over the most appropriate and efficient preventive strategies. Some preventive...

Objective: To conduct an economic analysis in the US of antihypertensive treatment with and without benazepril in patients with chronic renal insufficiency. Design: A four-state Markov model, using clinical data obtained from a 3-year randomised clinical trial [the Angiotensin-Converting-Enzyme...

Background: Current hypertension guidelines differ in their recommendations for first-line antihypertensive therapy. Objective: To evaluate the cost effectiveness of ACE inhibitor therapy as antihypertensive first-line therapy as compared with conventional antihypertensive therapy with...

Fluoxetine continues to be remarkably successful; greater volumes of this drug are sold than for any other antidepressant in the world. Prozac(R) has also become a household name. In this article we examine the circumstances that surround this success, and the evidence base that supports it....