Health care organization reps/experts call for halt to hypertension epidemic

A working group of representatives from seven international health care organizations has called for improved blood pressure goal rate levels of patients with hypertension, the single most important cause of attributable mortality around the world. This has driven the working group to identify five specific concrete practical actions which are described in the January issue of the Journal of Human Hypertension: Detect and Prevent high BP; Assess total cardiovascular risk; Form an active partnership with the patient; Treat hypertension to goal; and Create a supportive environment.

According to George Bakris, director of the Department of Medicine, Hypertensive Diseases Center, University of Chicago School of Medicine, Chicago, USA, and Steering Committee Member of the Call to Action Working Group, "these actions, if rigorously implemented by practitioners and targeted health-care systems throughout the world, should help to close the gap between our therapeutic capabilities and health care delivery and thereby save millions of lives."

Hypertension is a silent killer which still affects over one billion people worldwide. This number is expected to grow to 1.5 billion by 2025, causing millions of people to die prematurely or suffer irreversible health consequences including strokes, myocardial infarction, heart failure or kidney disease, mainly because they are not being treated to BP goal.