The High Cost of High Blood Pressure
Some 67 million Americans -- about a third of the adult population -- have high blood pressure, and about half of them do not have it under control, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Elevated blood pressure is a major factor in heart disease and strokes.
Some 67 million Americans — about a third of the adult population — have high blood pressure, and about half of them do not have it under control, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Elevated blood pressure is a major factor in heart disease and strokes.
Hypertension kills about 1,000 Americans every day and accounts for $131 billion in health care costs each year, the CDC says.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
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These key findings suggest that controlling high blood pressure may benefit from a team-based approach between health care systems, health care providers (those who see and treat patients), and patients to work together to treat high blood pressure.
“We have to roll up our sleeves and make blood pressure control a priority every day, with every patient, at every doctor’s visit,” said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “With increased focus and collaboration among patients, health care providers and health care systems, we can help 10 million Americans’ blood pressure come into control in the next five years.”
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This could be a particularly rich example of how scientific study results can be read in seemingly contradictory ways, as what we have here is research that purports to find a possible link between consuming chocolate and staying thin.
The good news for chocolate aficionados is that a new study out of Germany, featuring a generous sample size of more than 19,000 people, suggests that there may be a link between chocolate consumption and lower blood pressure (continued) .
Before we scare you, keep in mind that if everyone in America who experienced high blood pressure -- that's about a third of us -- got dementia, you would know about it However, new research suggests that the relationship between hypertension and dementia is more pronounced and alarming than doctors previously understood (continued).
While heart disease remains the No. 1 killer of people in the U.S., researchers have found that we can help explain a large part of these cases through one's genetic makeup. In fact, one in five white people are believed to have the "blood pressure gene," where the genetic variance that controls salt in the kidneys changes to affect individuals' blood pressure.
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