Question

A national study found that treating people appropriately for high blood pressure reduced their overall mortality by 20%. Treating people adequately for hypertension has been difficult because it is estimated that 50% of hypertensives do not know they have high blood pressure, 50% of those who do know are inadequately treated by their physicians, and 50% who are appropriately treated fail to follow this treatment by taking the right number of pills:

If the preceding 50% rates were each reduced to 40% by a massive education program, then what effect would this change have on the overall mortality rate among true hypertensives; that is, would the mortality rate decrease and, if so, what percentage of deaths among hypertensives could be prevented by the education program?

Answer 1