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A total of 1.4 billion people worldwide suffer from hypertension, and four out of five do not control it through medication or by reducing associated risks, warns the World Health Organization (WHO), while experts warn that uncontrolled high blood pressure causes around 10 million deaths annually.
"Every hour, about a thousand people die from heart attacks and heart attacks related to high blood pressure, and many of these deaths are preventable," highlighted WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, when presenting the second report of the UN health agency on hypertension.
The lack of control of this symptom is caused by inadequate access to equipment and medicines, or the lack of standardized treatments or specialized personnel in many health systems, indicates the WHO, which also links high blood pressure to chronic kidney problems or dementia.
Another factor would be the insufficient prevention campaigns regarding habits that can contribute to high blood pressure, such as the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, salt and trans fats, or insufficient physical activity.
The WHO emphasizes that medication to regulate blood pressure is one of the most effective and economical tools to address the problem, but only 28% of low-income countries reported in the preparation of the report general access of their population to this type of medication.
In developing countries, cardiovascular diseases caused, among other factors, by hypertension cost the healthcare systems of those economies up to $3.7 trillion in the last 15 years, the equivalent of 2% of their combined GDP, warns the WHO.
"With political will, investment and reforms to include the control of hypertension in health services, we can save millions of lives and guarantee universal health coverage for all," said the WHO Director-General.
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The organization defines as clinical hypertension those levels in adults that exceed 140 mmHg in their highest value (systole) and 90 mmHg in their lowest value (diastole) on two days of measurement. However, WHO warns that even levels within that range, around 130 mmHg systolic pressure, can still pose a higher risk of suffering heart or kidney ailments.
