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Globally, the leading risk factor for death is widely acknowledged as being raised blood pressure (BP). The Global Burden of Disease study found that a systolic BP of 110 mmHg and above accounted for 10.8 million deaths in 2019. This constitutes one in every five deaths, mainly due to coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.

A report on deaths in Australia confirmed that also here the leading cause of death is coronary heart disease, followed by dementia and cerebrovascular disease — with coronary disease, vascular dementia and cerebrovascular disease sharing a common risk factor: raised BP. Australian data have shown raised BP to be responsible for 43% of coronary heart disease, 41% of stroke, 65% of the burden of hypertensive heart disease, 38% of chronic kidney disease, 32% of atrial fibrillation and flutter, and 3.6% of dementia.

This MJA perspective shares more.

Details

1. Explain key components of the perspective.
2. List main recommendations.
3. Recognise changes in management in response to the perspective.

Authors: Aletta E Schutte, Ruth Webster, Garry Jennings and Markus P Schlaich

Article Type: Perspective