HYPERTENSION BURDEN IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: AN ESCALATING EPIDEMIC

Abstract

Hypertension, defined as having systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic ≥90 mmHg, is a leading global risk factor for cardiovascular and kidney disease responsible for over 10 million deaths annually (WHO, 2019). The Western Pacific Region, which includes Southeast Asia, had the highest blood pressure levels of any region worldwide as of 2015 (Forouzanfar et al., 2017). With CVD already claiming over 3 million lives each year in Southeast Asia, the escalating hypertension epidemic threatens to exacerbate this existing public health crisis (Allotey et al., 2019). Southeast Asia has witnessed upward trends in mean systolic blood pressure over the past 25 years, rising from 127 mmHg to 131 mmHg between 1990 and 2015 (Forouzanfar et al., 2017). This reflects one of the steepest increases globally during that period.