Globally only 1 in 3 with high blood pressure has it under control

A pioneering global initiative by the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) to screen the blood pressure of as many people globally as possible managed to screen just over 1.5 million people across countries of all incomes in 2018, discovering that 1 in 3 had hypertension (high blood pressure).

Furthermore, only a small proportion (1 in 3) of those found to have hypertension had their condition under control, either because they were unaware, not on treatment, or both - or, their treatment was not working well enough.

According to the most recent Global Burden of Disease study (2017), raised blood pressure is the biggest contributor to disease and mortality worldwide, with 10.4 million raised blood pressure related deaths in 2017.

"The simplest way to save lives is to increase awareness and get people's blood pressure checked," explains Professor Neil Poulter, Chief Investigator for the study, Immediate Past-President of ISH, Professor of preventive cardiovascular medicine and Director of the Imperial Clinical Trials Unit at Imperial College London, UK.