Erratum: Additions and Corrections

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between hypertension and onset of cardiovascular disease in Japan. As part of an ongoing epidemiological survey of cardiovascular diseases in Hokkaido, Japan, 1,798 subjects (806 males and 992 females; mean age in the initial year of the survey, 58.6±11.8 years) were selected, after excluding subjects who had been taking antihypertensive drugs, from a total of 2,136 subjects who had undergone medical examinations in 1991 in the town of Tanno and in 1992 in the town of Sobetsu, two rural communities in Hokkaido. Height, weight, casual systolic and diastolic blood pressures in the sitting position and blood biochemical values of all subjects were measured, and the subjects were divided into blood pressure level groups according to the 1999 World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension (WHO/ISH) criteria. The follow-up survey was concluded at the end of August in 1999.