High blood pressure, report exposes social and economic impact

A report presented to policy makers at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, examines how uncontrolled high blood pressure among people in their 30s, 40s and 50s will "inevitably" lead to an increase in cardiovascular disease and stroke that will strike down men and women at the height of their earning power, potentially turning them from drivers of economic growth and sources of public revenues to long-term recipients of extensive social benefits with increased health care needs.

The study, titled the Global High Blood Pressure Impact Report, High Blood Pressure and Health Policy: Where We Are and Where We Need to Go Next, warns that, without increased emphasis on modifying lifestyles as well as diagnosing and treating high blood pressure, late 20th century gains in treating cardiovascular disease may stagnate or reverse.

The authors are Panos Kanavos, a health economist from the London School of Economics, UK, Jan Ostergren from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and Michael Weber from the State University of New York, USA. In a statement, they call for "a revitalized political commitment to fighting high blood pressure and its serious consequences and the development of an aggressive strategy to sustain blood pressure control efforts by health care providers."