About ⅓ of Americans have hypertension, and only about ½ of them have the issue under control, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a recent report.
This serious public health issue means that 67 million Americans have high blood pressure and only about 35 million keep it under control with medications or other ways. High blood pressure can potentially lead to higher risk of heart attack and stroke.
A CDC official stated that this public health problem is so serious that it is actually public health enemy number two, after tobacco.
These new warnings were compiled from the Sept. 4 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which is produced by the CDC. This report also noted that direct health care costs due to hypertension total about $130 billion each year. Hypertension also causes about 1000 deaths every day in the US.
The CDC further found that 22 million Americans know that they have hypertension, but they do not manage it properly. For about 16 million citizens, medication is not helping to keep the problem under control. This could be because they are not taking the right drug or combination of drugs, or that they are having trouble affording the prescription.
About 14 million Americans who are suffering from hypertension do not know that they have it. This is despite the fact that they have had many readings at a doctor’s office and they should know that it is a problem.
People with high blood pressure can reduce their problems with this public health menace by taking their medicines and cutting down on sodium. Also, eating a healthy diet and getting exercise help to keep the problem under control.
