EDITOR,--K Field and colleagues claim to have evaluated the cost effectiveness of intervention protocols in primary care to reduce cardiovascular disease.1 They examined the costs of treatment with cholesterol lowering drugs (pounds sterling235/year) and ignored the cost of antihypertensive treatment (pounds sterling180-260/year). The costs of medical treatment for both conditions, including dietary modification of obesity and salt intake in hypertension, were roughly equivalent. Rates of therapeutically important severe hypertension (4.4%; 115/2607) and hyperlipidaemia (4.1%; 107/2607) are similar,2 and some patients need treatment for both …