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Norman M. Kaplan, MD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas

JAMA. 1990;263(21):2888-2889.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

In these days of increasing concerns about the steadily escalating costs of medical care in the United States, the publication of the article by Edelson et al¹ showing a sevenfold difference between the cost-effectiveness of different antihypertensive drugs in the treatment of mild to moderate hypertension is sure to receive considerable notice, if not by clinicians certainly by those people who are exerting more and more influence over the way clinicians practice medicine— third-party payers, health maintenance organizations' formulary committees, and health policy planners in Washington. Therefore, all who are interested in providing the best possible care for hypertensive patients ought to be aware that the data used to reach the conclusions of this analysis are seriously flawed.

For example, the authors use as little as a single study involving 12 patients for one drug and compare it with another drug for which data are used . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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