An estimated 30 to 40 percent of elderly persons are treated with blood pressure medications. The efficacy of blood pressure drug therapy in older patients with diastolic or combined diastolic/systolic hypertension is well proven, but such therapy can adversely affect quality of life and biochemical profile. In 1992 when the study started, there was a compelling rationale to identify what proportion of medicated, well-controlled elderly hypertensives could be maintained long-term or greater than 30 months in the normotensive state following withdrawal of blood pressure medications. There was also a need to determine whether nonpharmacologic therapy could significantly increase the proportion with a successful outcome.