The aim of this study was to examine the blood pressure (BP) levels in patients treated for essential hypertension in 1816 patients in general practice in Norway. The study was based on an optical readable questionnaire filled out by the physician including information about systolic (S) and diastolic (D) BP, gender, age, body weight, smoking habits and all pharmaceutical treatment given. Sixty-four per cent of the patients were treated with one antihypertensive drug. Only 22.3% of the women and 30.7% of the men (p