Prevalence of hypertension: importance of epidemiologic studies and the need to spot undiagnosed cases

The actual prevalence and incidence of hypertension could have been higher and even more impactful on public health. Nonetheless, the work by Cegłowska et al. remains an important epidemiologic study, carefully conducted on nation wide scale. It demonstrates how arterial hypertension is extremely widespread, and highlights the need to improve blood pressure monitoring within a collaborative framework involving patients, general practitioners, and hypertension specialists, aimed at reducing the number of undiagnosed cases and improving patient management and public health. Moreover, since hypertension is becoming more prevalent in the elderly, efforts should be made to tailor health care to particular age groups.