在过去数十年间高血压治疗取得众多进展与突破，我们对心血管疾病风险的理解逐渐发生了转变，不再人为机械地定义“高血压”概念。血压变化是连续的，与血压升高相关的风险也是连续的，应使每个人达到最适合自己的理想血压。目前的重点已不再是高血压本身，而是转移至血压升高带来的风险方面，甚至正常血压人群的风险控制，这对于高血压防治非常重要。
虽然我们对疾病的认识已有更新，但对降低血压并预防心血管疾病的关注仍显不足，同样，其危险因素如吸烟、糖尿病、肥胖、血脂升高等亦需重视。在发展中国家，实施预防策略时应参考其他国家的有效方法，可通过完善立法、加强规章制度建设、教育以及完善执行过程来加强血压控制。对中国而言，降低食盐摄入是非常好的机会，可应用食盐替代物，教育大众过量用盐的危害，与食品工业联合降低加工食品中的食盐含量。其他措施如鼓励健康饮食、运动、食用新鲜水果和蔬菜预防肥胖，创建合适的环境促进运动，不鼓励人们开车等。结合以上措施并针对高危人群进行预防，在降低心血管事件和卒中风险方面将会获益良多。
<International Circulation>: Could you introduce research improvements of treatment in hypertension in recent decades?
Prof. Whitworth: The biggest advance in the last couple of decades， is our understanding that the risk of cardiovascular disease relates to level of blood pressure， and not just an artificial concept called hypertension. Blood pressure is continuous， so the risk with increasing blood pressure is continuous. We don’t just focus on hypertension， we need to focus on the risk produced by elevated blood pressure， even in the normotensive branch. I think it is very important， together with our understanding， that is not enough just to lower blood pressure to prevent cardiovascular disease， but we also need to give our attention to all the other risk factors， like smoking， diabetes， obesity， lipids and so on.
<International Circulation>: How to improve prevention in developing country， such as in China? Can you give us some advices?
Prof. Whitworth: I think that strategies that have been proved effective are operating in other countries in the world to back up control， through legislation， regulation， education and through processing structures. The reduction of salt intake is really an opportunity for China in which salt intake is high. So the use of salt substitute， instead of regular salt，education about the harm associated with salt intake， and also by working with the food industry to reduce salt in the process of prepared food are things that I think very important to start with . Then I think there are other measures around， preventions of obesity through encouragement for healthy diet， exercise， fresh fruits and vegetables， promotion of exercises through creating urban environment that encouraging exercises rather than the use of vehicle. Those targeted strategy for high risk populations together can be very effective measures in helping prevent and manage high blood pressure risk in reducing the risks of heart attack and stroke.