Hypertension; East and West

Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular diseases consistently contribute to most morbid and mortal events in most parts of the world. Many of these cardiovascular events are premature in nature, especially in the developing world [2]. These premature deaths of individuals who should be productive to society will in turn confer additional burden to many parts of the developing world which are facing socioeconomic challenges. A cohort study conducted in the Asia Pacific Region over the last two decades has thrown light into the burden of hypertension in particular on cardiovascular diseases in the region [3]. It has been estimated that in the Asia Pacific Region 66% of all CV events are attributable to hypertension per se [4]. Specifically, hypertension contributes to 40-50% of all hemorrhagic strokes, 30-40% of all ischemic strokes and 20-25% of all ischemic heart diseases in the region. These estimates were remarkably shown to be consistent with a recent Indonesian survey that demonstrated 20-25% of all coronary heart diseases and 35-42% of all strokes were attributable to hypertension [5]. It is also worth remembering that effective control of hypertension has been shown to be highly cost effective in the West [6] and more recently in the East [7]. What lessons can we learn thus far and what can be done to mitigate this worrying state of affair? This article will focus on hypertension because it is set to remain for decades to come as the main public health scourge in combatting premature morbidity and mortality especially in the East, the most populous part of the world.