We performed a retrospective case-control study to investigate hypertension and admission blood pressure as risk factors for postoperative cardiovascular death. We identified records of 76 patients who had died of a cardiovascular cause within 30 days of anaesthesia and elective surgery and 76 matched controls. From the records of each patient (case and control) we recorded the admission blood pressure and details of any history of hypertension. A pre-operative history of hypertension was strongly associated with perioperative cardiovascular death (p < 0.001 with one degree of freedom: odds ratio 4.14, 95% confidence intervals 1.63-11.69). There was no association between systolic or diastolic pressure at admission for operation and perioperative cardiovascular death. The mean admission systolic pressure of the cases was 145.5 mmHg (range 90-250 mmHg) and that of the controls was 146.5 mmHg (range 100-200 mmHg). The mean admission diastolic pressure of the cases was 83.2 mmHg (range 60-130 mmHg), and that of the controls was 84.5 mmHg (range 60-110 mmHg).