In reply
We are uncertain as to how Klungel and colleagues derived the information that 13.5% of our study subjects in the high-normal or hypertensive categories were eligible for initial drug therapy. As stated in our article,1 we calculated that 60.6% of these subjects were eligible for initial drug therapy or were already receiving drug therapy. If we consider only untreated subjects, 476 (32.0%) of 1488 fell into one of the following categories for which the Sixth Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC-VI) recommends initial drug therapy: (1) stage 2 or stage 3 hypertension, (2) stage 1 hypertension in risk group C, or (3) high-normal blood pressure with congestive heart failure or diabetes. These 476 subjects represent 17.0% of all 2794 subjects (treated and untreated with high-normal blood pressure or hypertension).