Hypertension crisis: 1 billion people suffer from hypertension in the world

 Developing countries and countries that are rapidly adopting Western lifestyles are growing fastest

A group of scientists published a report on the 14th, revealing a set of shocking data: nearly 1 billion people in the world suffer from hypertension, and the number of patients with hypertension will increase by more than 500 million by 2025. Moreover, this silent and terrible disease is not only widespread in the western world, but also increasingly common in Africa and other developing countries and regions.

Hypertension crisis

The report, written by Jane ostgren of Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden and experts from the London School of economics and the State University of New York, is the world's first hypertension report. The report points out that an era of high blood pressure crisis is coming. By 2025, there will be 1.56 billion people suffering from high blood pressure in the world.

According to the report, heart disease caused by high blood pressure causes millions of deaths every year. However, the problem of high blood pressure has not received the same attention as avian influenza. So far, the death toll caused by avian influenza is less than 200.

Hypertension is not only a cause of heart disease, but also a major cause of stroke, renal failure, blindness and dementia. Patients usually pay little attention to symptoms before organ damage.

The report calls on governments to take action to deal with high blood pressure just as they did with infectious diseases in the past.

"Even in the United States, most people with high blood pressure are not adequately treated." Dr. Smith of the University of North Carolina, who is a consultant to the World Heart Association, said, "look at Africa, look at the world, it's a major risk factor."

It's not easy to treat high blood pressure because patients often stop taking drugs and don't understand that they should stick to taking drugs even when they feel good.

Ideas need to change

The report calls for a change in the perception of hypertension in some countries. In the United States, sympathy for patients with high blood pressure is a recognized dinner topic. About 40% of African Americans have high blood pressure. In some black dominated churches, high blood pressure has become the topic of preaching.

However, in some countries and regions, the concept of hypertension is not as open as that in the United States. Michael Weber, one of the report's authors, said that in some areas, "it's a shame to have adults take antihypertensive drugs." He estimates that one third of adults in Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela are affected by high blood pressure.

"We need to break these barriers and make this topic popular. We need to set a model in these countries so that we can face and discuss this issue openly."

Over 25% of Chinese adult patients

In the United States, hypertension affects as many as 72 million people, equivalent to one-third of the adult population, Weber said. The report points out that the proportion of people with high blood pressure in some Western European countries is higher than that in the United States, such as the United Kingdom, Sweden and Italy, accounting for 38% of the total population; the proportion in Spain is 45%, and that in Germany is 55%.

However, the report warns that it is developing countries and countries that are rapidly adopting Western lifestyles that are experiencing the fastest growth in hypertension. For example, the study found that in parts of India, one-third of urban adults have high blood pressure, while in rural areas where traditional lifestyles are maintained, patients with high blood pressure are rare. More than a quarter of Chinese adults have high blood pressure.

However, Smith stressed that reducing the number of people with high blood pressure will help developing countries avoid the spread of heart disease. Compared with hypertension, heart disease treatment is obviously more expensive.