High blood pressure affects 1.13 billion people, says new study

The number of people in the world with high blood pressure has reached 1.13 billion, according to new research. The study, led by scientists at Imperial College London , reveals the number of people with high blood pressure has nearly doubled in 40 years. The team studied changes in blood pressure in every country in the world between 1975 and 2015. The largest ever study of its kind, the research involved the World Health Organization and hundreds of scientists throughout the world, and incorporated blood pressure measurements from nearly 20 million people. Interactive maps and individual country data are available at www.ncdrisc.org. High blood pressure is no longer related to affluence - as it was in 1975 - but is now a major health issue linked with poverty Prof Majid Ezzati Study author The findings , published in the journal The Lancet , showed that while blood pressure has dropped sharply in high-income countries, it has risen in many low and middle-income countries, especially those in Africa and South Asia. The UK was found to be the European country with the lowest proportion of people with high blood pressure in 2015, while South Korea, USA and Canada were lowest in the world.