High blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for heart disease and stroke. These two conditions together constitute the leading cause of premature death and disability in the world. Thus, hypertension is believed to contribute to the occurrence of nearly 9.4 million deaths from cardiovascular disease each year. A worrying figure when the number of adults in the world affected by this pathology is now estimated at more than 1 billion.
In this new study, published in the newspaper Circulation, researchers at Tulane University (New Orleans) analyzed data from more than 100 population studies in 90 countries from 1995 to 2014.
Their results indicate that nearly a third of the world’s adult population had hypertension in 2010. More unexpectedly, the researchers first realized that adults living in low- and middle-income countries were more affected by the pathology than those in rich countries, a difference of 3%.
“The increase in longevity and urbanization are often accompanied by an unhealthy lifestyle such as a diet containing a lot of sodium, fat, calories and a lack of physical activity. Now these factors may play an important role in the hypertension epidemic in low- and middle-income countries, ”said Dr. Jiang He, co-author of the study, in a statement.
A public health problem in poor countries
This disparity can also be explained by the fact that richer countries have better ways of treating and preventing hypertension. Awareness campaigns and regular blood pressure monitoring are a major asset that low- and middle-income countries do not always have.
According to Dr. He Jiang, many poor countries have overburdened health systems that lack the resources to effectively control and treat hypertension.
Study author Dr. Katherine T. Mills adds that “if we are to prevent cardiovascular disease, liver disease, and the additional costs it inflicts on society, hypertension must be recognized as a public health problem in low and middle income countries “.
“The development of innovative and profitable preventive programs to combat this pathology will only require collaboration between national and international actors” concludes Dr. Mills firmly.
In France, according to the Institute for Research and Documentation in Health Economics (IRDES), expenditure for all cardiovascular diseases represents 11.8 billion euros, or 10.7% of consumption. care and medical goods. High blood pressure alone represents a cost of 2.6 billion euros, just behind cancer (4.5 billion).
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