Unhealthy modern lifestyles, involving a salt-rich diet and physical inactivity, are fuelling the rise in high BP, which could reach 1.56 billion by 2025.

Currently, a person in the Western world has a greater than 90 per cent lifetime risk of developing high BP or hypertension.

Target BP levels are very rarely reached, even in countries where cost of medication is not an issue, say the study researchers.

They conclude that: ‘Physicians need to convey the message that hypertension is the first, and easily measurable, irreversible sign that many organs in the body are under attack.’

sanjay.tanday@haymarket.com

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