【制定者】

世界卫生组织（WHO

【来源】

World Health Organization (WHO)

【摘要】 

High blood pressure is one of the world’s leading risk factors for death and disability. The number of people living with hypertension (blood pressure of ≥140  mmHg systolic or ≥90 mmHg diastolic or on medication) doubled between  1990 and 2019, from 650 million to 1.3 billion (1).  This common, deadly condition is an important public health problem that leads to stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney damage and many other health problems (2, 3). A study of 87 behavioural, environmental, occupational and metabolic risk factors found that high systolic blood pressure (≥110–115  mmHg) was the single most important risk factor for early death worldwide,  leading to an estimated 10.8 million avoidable deaths every year, and a burden of 235 million years of life lost or lived with a disability (disability-adjusted life years, DALYs) annually (3). High blood pressure causes more deaths than other leading risk factors, including tobacco use and high blood sugar.  Hypertension and its associated complications also have enormous economic costs – for patients and their families, health systems and national economies.  People living with the condition incur direct medical costs and lose wages,  often in their prime working years, which can be impoverishing for entire families. Hospital and outpatient care for heart attacks and strokes caused by uncontrolled hypertension are expensive for health systems. National economies lose tax income, have decreased productivity, increased health care costs, and increased societal needs for the support of adults surviving heart attack and stroke, and of children whose parents have died or become disabled. By one estimate, the economic benefits of improved hypertension treatment programmes outweigh the costs by about 18 to one.