More than 700 million people with untreated hypertension
Updated: Oct 31, 2021
Number of people living with hypertension has doubled to 1.28 billion since 1990
World Health Organization and Imperial College London joint press release
The number of adults aged 30–79 years with hypertension has increased from 650 million to 1.28 billion in the last thirty years, according to the first comprehensive global analysis of trends in hypertension prevalence, detection, treatment and control, led by Imperial College London and WHO, and published today in The Lancet. Nearly half these people did not know they had hypertension.
Hypertension significantly increases the risk of heart, brain and kidney diseases, and is one of the top causes of death and disease throughout the world. It can be easily detected through measuring blood pressure, at home or in a health centre, and can often be treated effectively with medications that are low cost.