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May measurement month 2017—a concerted global effort to raise awareness of elevated blood pressure

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 32, pages 319–320 (2018)Cite this article

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Worldwide around 9.4 million deaths per year are directly attributable to raised blood pressure (BP) [1]. Elevated BP affects more than one billion people globally and represents the single biggest contributing risk factor to the global burden of disease with its detrimental consequences presenting predominantly as strokes, coronary heart disease, heart failure, kidney failure, and dementia [2]. While lifestyle modification and appropriate pharmacotherapy are highly effective in lowering BP, some major obstacles in reducing the burden of hypertension include the lack of awareness and suboptimal control of BP in treated patients. Indeed, international data suggest that only half of affected subjects are aware of their elevated BP [3] and less than a third of patients receiving treatment for their hypertension actually reach target BP levels [3]. These issues are particularly evident in lower income countries, which represent the majority of the world’s population [1].

In its vision for worldwide cardiovascular disease prevention, the World Heart Federation identified elevated blood pressure as one of the primary targets for intervention in order to achieve their goal of a 25% reduction in non-communicable disease by 2025 [4]. Increasing the awareness of elevated BP has been identified as a key component to facilitate these ambitious efforts [3].

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References

  1. NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC). Worldwide trends in blood pressure from 1975 to 2015: a pooled analysis of 1479 population-based measurement studies with 19·1 million participants. Lancet. 2017;389:37–55.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dobney Hypertension Centre, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Royal Perth Hospital Unit, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia

    Markus P. Schlaich

  2. Department of Cardiology, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia

    Markus P. Schlaich

  3. Department of Nephrology, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia

    Markus P. Schlaich

  4. Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Markus P. Schlaich & Melinda Carrington

Authors
  1. Markus P. Schlaich
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  2. Melinda Carrington
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Correspondence to Markus P. Schlaich.

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Schlaich, M.P., Carrington, M. May measurement month 2017—a concerted global effort to raise awareness of elevated blood pressure. J Hum Hypertens 32, 319–320 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-017-0006-1

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