If you think hypertension is one of those diseases that only affects the West, think again. The phenomenon has indeed appeared in developed countries, but it is now spreading all over the world, and now affects developing countries more. The number of people suffering from hypertension doubled between 1975 and 2015, from 594 million to more than one billion in forty years. To arrive at this finding, the researchers gathered data from 1,500 studies carried out on more than 19 million adults in 200 countries. This global information has enabled regions to emerge that are more at risk than others.
Half of those affected by hypertension reside in Asia, including 226 million in China, and 199 million in India. Europe has regional disparities: the United Kingdom is therefore one of the countries most spared, with one in five men and one in eight women affected. But Eastern Europe is, on the contrary, among the most worrying areas. One in three men is hypertensive there. It is also one of the regions, along with Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, which shows the highest average voltage.
A risk factor for cardiovascular disease
Too high a voltage is defined by two digits. The first must be greater than 140 mmHg (millimeters of mercury), and the second must be greater than 90 mmHg. This corresponds to a tension of 14/9 as announced by the doctor. And if hypertension worries scientists so much, it is because it is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke and chronic kidney disease. Pathologies which also continue to increase and have become the new scourge of the 21st century.
The World Health Organization (WHO) aims to reduce the number of hypertension by 25% by 2025, but this will only be possible by facilitating the detection and treatment of hypertension.
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