According to an editorial, despite substantial progress in treatment and control, hypertension still accounts for 10% of the population attributable risk for all-cause mortality in most societies. In addition to better pharmacological control, a preventive population approach is needed because the lifetime incidence of hypertension is 90%, and the years spent with a high normal BP also have vascular consequences. It notes much research on BP has attempted to move forward from the traditional approach of repeated measurements of a patient’s BP, estimation of average risk based on data from published studies, followed by life-long therapy with daily medications. Supporters of precision medicine argue that prediction of risk based on genetic susceptibility, coupled with individualised choices of therapy, will add great efficiency to the management of high BP. However, commentator notes the inherent weakness of the methods available to quantify lifestyle and the clinical meaning of the risk estimates used to summarise the data; and also interpretation of risk estimates from genetic epidemiology is not usually framed in a manner that has clinical utility.