Abstract
Hypertension is now the foremost cause of disability and is responsible for the highest percentage of attributable death among risk factors. These global changes are mainly due to the increase in the prevalence of hypertension in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as a consequence of relevant socioeconomic changes occurring during the last decades. Implementation of global prevention efforts urgently needs to be accelerated because of the increasing incidence of haemorrhagic stroke, renal failure, and hypertensive heart disease in developing countries. Blood pressure (BP) measurement has different implications in epidemiological studies performed in low-resource settings. First, the frequency of blood pressure measurement is a simple but reliable indicator of access to healthcare in epidemiological studies, which may disclose the favourable effects of urbanization; the opportunity to have BP measured increases hypertension awareness, facilitates drug treatment, and leads to better achievement of BP control. Second, BP measurement is a key element in cardiovascular risk stratification, focusing solely on the preferred strategy in low-resource settings where costs of biochemical tests might be less sustainable. Third, the issue of obtaining reliable estimation of BP values is crucial to achieve sound data on the burden of hypertension in LMICs, and some aspects of BP measurement, such as the use of reliable automated devices, the number of measurements/visits to achieve a consistent diagnosis of hypertension, and the possible confounding effect of environmental factors, must be closely considered.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 91-98 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Epidemiology |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |
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Keywords
- Cardiovascular prevention
- Global health
- Low income countries
- Low resource settings
- Non communicable disease
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Epidemiology
Cite this
Need for better blood pressure measurement in developing countries to improve prevention of cardiovascular disease. / Modesti, Pietro Amedeo; Perruolo, Eleonora; Parati, Gianfranco.
In: Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 25, No. 2, 2015, p. 91-98.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Need for better blood pressure measurement in developing countries to improve prevention of cardiovascular disease
AU - Modesti, Pietro Amedeo
AU - Perruolo, Eleonora
AU - Parati, Gianfranco
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Hypertension is now the foremost cause of disability and is responsible for the highest percentage of attributable death among risk factors. These global changes are mainly due to the increase in the prevalence of hypertension in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as a consequence of relevant socioeconomic changes occurring during the last decades. Implementation of global prevention efforts urgently needs to be accelerated because of the increasing incidence of haemorrhagic stroke, renal failure, and hypertensive heart disease in developing countries. Blood pressure (BP) measurement has different implications in epidemiological studies performed in low-resource settings. First, the frequency of blood pressure measurement is a simple but reliable indicator of access to healthcare in epidemiological studies, which may disclose the favourable effects of urbanization; the opportunity to have BP measured increases hypertension awareness, facilitates drug treatment, and leads to better achievement of BP control. Second, BP measurement is a key element in cardiovascular risk stratification, focusing solely on the preferred strategy in low-resource settings where costs of biochemical tests might be less sustainable. Third, the issue of obtaining reliable estimation of BP values is crucial to achieve sound data on the burden of hypertension in LMICs, and some aspects of BP measurement, such as the use of reliable automated devices, the number of measurements/visits to achieve a consistent diagnosis of hypertension, and the possible confounding effect of environmental factors, must be closely considered.
AB - Hypertension is now the foremost cause of disability and is responsible for the highest percentage of attributable death among risk factors. These global changes are mainly due to the increase in the prevalence of hypertension in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as a consequence of relevant socioeconomic changes occurring during the last decades. Implementation of global prevention efforts urgently needs to be accelerated because of the increasing incidence of haemorrhagic stroke, renal failure, and hypertensive heart disease in developing countries. Blood pressure (BP) measurement has different implications in epidemiological studies performed in low-resource settings. First, the frequency of blood pressure measurement is a simple but reliable indicator of access to healthcare in epidemiological studies, which may disclose the favourable effects of urbanization; the opportunity to have BP measured increases hypertension awareness, facilitates drug treatment, and leads to better achievement of BP control. Second, BP measurement is a key element in cardiovascular risk stratification, focusing solely on the preferred strategy in low-resource settings where costs of biochemical tests might be less sustainable. Third, the issue of obtaining reliable estimation of BP values is crucial to achieve sound data on the burden of hypertension in LMICs, and some aspects of BP measurement, such as the use of reliable automated devices, the number of measurements/visits to achieve a consistent diagnosis of hypertension, and the possible confounding effect of environmental factors, must be closely considered.
KW - Cardiovascular prevention
KW - Global health
KW - Low income countries
KW - Low resource settings
KW - Non communicable disease
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84923876632&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84923876632&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2188/jea.JE20140146
DO - 10.2188/jea.JE20140146
M3 - Article
VL - 25
SP - 91
EP - 98
JO - Journal of Epidemiology
JF - Journal of Epidemiology
SN - 0917-5040
IS - 2
ER -