We compared cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and their changes in drug-treated hypertensive subjects with those of untreated hypertensive and normotensive subjects in the FINMONICA population surveys in 1982 and 1987. The hypertensive subjects had, whether treated or not, a significantly higher mean serum total cholesterol concentration than the normotensive subjects. The mean serum high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration was significantly lower in treated hypertensive subjects than in the untreated ones or in normotensive subjects. From 1982 to 1987 the mean serum total cholesterol decreased 2% (95% confidence interval (CI) -4.8%, +0.9%) and 4.7% (-7.2%, -2.0%) and HDL-cholesterol increased 4.5% (+8.0%, +0.1%) and 9.9% (+13.5%, +6.3%) in treated hypertensive men and women, respectively. On the other hand, the mean body mass index (BMI) of treated hypertensive men increased significantly during the study period, and also the alcohol consumption and the prevalence of smoking tended to increase.