The Value of Continued Followup in a Preventive Medicine Program

Continued monitoring of hypertension and cholesterol levels in NASA employees by regularly scheduled medical examinations prevents an increase in employee disability and cardiovascular mortality rates. Adequate therapeutic control for younger hypertensive employees is demonstrated by records on mortality and heart diseases over a period of 28 months. It confirmed the importance of systolic blood pressure as diagnostic tool for the inherent risk factor. The prevalence of additional coronary risk factors among employees with hypercholesterolemia is considerably less than in employees with hypertension.