WHO: More than 700 million people with untreated hypertension

On August 25th Imperial College London and World Health Organization published new findings in The Lancet. 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 World Health Organization. Nearly half these people did not know they had hypertension.

The study, conducted by a global network of physicians and researchers, covered the period 1990–2019. It used blood pressure measurement and treatment data from over 100 million people aged 30–79 years in 184 countries, together covering 99% of the global population, which makes it the most comprehensive review of global trends in hypertension to date.

Although the percent of people who have hypertension has changed little since 1990, the number of people with hypertension doubled to 1.28 billion. This was primarily due to population growth and ageing.

Full press release https://www.who.int/news/item/25-08-2021-more-than-700-million-people-with-untreated-hypertension
Full article https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01330-1/fulltext