According to new research published on The Lancet, the number of people in the world with high blood pressure reached 1.13 billion, nearly doubling since 1975. The largest ever study of its kind, the research involved the World Health Organization and hundreds of scientists throughout the world, and incorporated blood pressure measurements from nearly 20 million people. This study highlights the increasing importance of noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors. As child mortality and fertility have fallen rapidly in recent decades, the proportion of older people has increased and the burden of noncommunicable diseases that affect older people have also increased.
