Nearly half of adults with hypertension are unaware they have it, WHO says
An estimated one in three adults worldwide live with hypertension but most people with the risky cardiovascular condition are not adequately treated, according to a new report by the World Health Organization.
A 2020 study published in The Lancet found high blood pressure is “the single most important risk factor for early death,” the WHO report says. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, leads to an estimated 10 million deaths every year, but almost half of adults with high blood pressure don’t know they have it.
“The bottom line here is that the world’s most deadly condition is also the most neglected,” said Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the president and chief executive of Resolve to Save Lives, a nonprofit that focuses on cardiovascular disease and epidemics. “This neglect results in millions of people dying preventable deaths, and having preventable heart attacks and strokes, every year.”
The number of people with high blood pressure doubled to 1.3 billion in 2019, up from an estimated 650 million in 1990, according to the WHO. Health officials expect that number to continue to rise as the global population grows and people live longer.
On Tuesday, the WHO published the organization’s first-ever report on hypertension and the consequences of high blood pressure when left untreated.
According to the WHO report, if half of those with high blood pressure had the condition “under control,” 76 million deaths would be prevented by 2050.
“For more than half a century, treatment of high blood pressure has been standard of care in higher income countries,” Frieden said. “It’s way past time for it to become the standard of care for every person in the world.”
What is hypertension?
Hypertension occurs when the pressure in a person’s blood vessels is too high. The higher the blood pressure, the harder the heart needs to work to pump blood through the body and the more potential for damage to the cardiovascular system.
A blood pressure test measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats (the first number) and rests (the second number.)
Normal blood pressure is below 120/80 mmHg, (which stands for millimeters of mercury). Hypertension is typically defined as 140/90 mmHg or higher although some guidelines say it starts at 130/80 mmHg.
When left untreated, hypertension can lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure and kidney damage.
“The reason why we call it the ‘silent killer’ is because you’re not necessarily aware that you have hypertension,” said Bente Mikkelsen, the director of noncommunicable diseases at the WHO.
How to manage high blood pressure
But, Mikkelsen said “it is possible to manage and control hypertension. This isn’t one of the diseases where you should be afraid.”
Start with getting your blood pressure measured, Mikkelsen said. Fewer than half of older Americans with high blood pressure check their blood pressure regularly. Exercising, eating a healthy diet that’s low in sodium, and avoiding alcohol and tobacco are ways to avoid high blood pressure, health officials say.
Heart attacks and strokes are “today’s leading killers,” Frieden said. And “it costs pennies a day” for medicine to treat high blood pressure.
“It can be treated effectively with safe, low-cost medications,” Frieden said. “So, let’s focus on increasing the effective treatment rate because that will save lives, save money, support patients, increase productivity. And, in doing so, we will strengthen our primary health-care systems.”
Resolve to Save Lives provided financial support for the WHO’s report with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Donor-Advised Fund.