WASHINGTON — High blood pressure remains a real and growing problem that, if left untreated, could increase in prevalence by 60% over the next 2 decades, Dr. Richard Roberts said at a press briefing on hypertension.
“If action is not taken soon, both in the [United States] and around the world, there will be significant public health consequences,” said Dr. Roberts, a family physician and professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Dr. Roberts spoke on behalf of a coalition of 14 medical groups and voluntary health organizations that commissioned a report to compile the latest information about high blood pressure and its impact on health care systems. The report, “High Blood Pressure and Health Policy: Where We Are and Where We Need to Go Next,” serves as a call to action for health policy makers and physicians.
Citing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the report documents that the prevalence of high blood pressure in adults in the United States increased from 25% in 1988–1994 to 29% in 1999–2002. In addition, the growing problem of high blood pressure in children is expected to contribute to the overall increase in prevalence over the next 20 years.
“What makes this such a serious threat is that it can't be prevented easily nor diagnosed and treated easily. It's a tough disease,” Dr. Roberts said. “I'm a family doctor in the trenches doing this every day, and it's probably one of the toughest things that we struggle with.”
The report, which was sponsored by an unrestricted educational grant from Novartis AG, calls for an international effort to address five public policy goals:
▸ Recognize that high blood pressure is a global health priority.
▸ Achieve global consensus on standards for managing high blood pressure.
▸ Empower family doctors to be the first lines of defense against high blood pressure on a global level.
▸ Educate patients about treatment options and acknowledge the difficulties of adhering to lifestyle changes and medication regimens.
▸ Conduct long-term clinical and epidemiologic studies on the costs and benefits of aggressively treating high blood pressure based on emerging trends and scientific research.
“More than 90% of us will have high blood pressure if we live long enough,” Dr. Michael A. Weber, professor of medicine at the State University of New York, Brooklyn, said during the briefing.
“The good news is, we can do plenty about it,” he said.
Losing weight and becoming more physically active are among the best ways to keep hypertension from developing, especially for young people. But for many people, regular adherence to medication may be necessary to keep their blood pressure at a healthy level, said Dr. Weber, chair of the American Society of Hypertension's Specialist Program and one of the coauthors of the report.
He suggested that patients would benefit from more education about the condition. “You don't know when you have high blood pressure; it is a totally asymptomatic condition. The only way you know you have high blood pressure is to have it measured, and if it is high, you must get it under control,” he said.
“The effort is worth it,” he emphasized. “When we treat high blood pressure well, we can reduce the probability of heart attacks by 40%–50%.”
Similarly, keeping high blood pressure under control can reduce the incidence of stroke and cut down on the number of patients who will eventually require kidney dialysis.
“If all of us work together, we can take a big bite out of this enormous problem,” concluded Dr. Weber, who serves as a consultant for several pharmaceutical companies including Novartis and Merck & Co.