Study Finds Need For PHM For Hypertension

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Almost one-third of all adults worldwide suffer from hypertension.

The findings of a recent study could have wide implications for the future of population health management programs. The study, published by the scholarly journal Circulation, found 31.5 percent of adults worldwide — an estimated 1.39 billion individuals — had hypertension as of 2010. Of those individuals, approximately 75 percent live in low- and middle-income countries.

An earlier World Health Organization report called hypertension a global public health crisis, stating, “Hypertension is a silent, invisible killer that rarely causes symptoms. Increasing public awareness is key, as is access to early detection.” Individuals need to be informed about the signs and risks of hypertension and, “to raise this kind of awareness, countries need systems and services in place to promote universal health coverage and support healthy lifestyles.” This is the role of population health management.

For the study, the authors reviewed MEDLINE from 1995 through 2014 and included 135 population-based studies of 968,419 adults from 90 countries. According to the study, treatment and control of hypertension are crucial to preventing consequent cardiovascular and kidney diseases. The available data suggest there is a widening health disparity in the prevalence of hypertension worldwide.

The authors concluded, “Global hypertension disparities are large and increasing. Collaborative efforts are urgently needed to combat the emerging hypertension burden in low- and middle-income countries.”

One way to combat hypertension is through the implementation of population health management systems. A 2015 study published in the Lancet proposed “a public health approach to global management of hypertension,” arguing that the benefits would be “substantial” for such a platform.

The authors of the Circulation study found there were disparities not just in hypertension prevalence but also in awareness, treatment, and control. “The high and increasing worldwide burden of hypertension is a major global health challenge because it increases morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular and kidney diseases and financial costs to society,” the authors concluded. “Implementation of innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable programs for hypertension prevention and control should be a public health priority for these [low- and middle-income] countries.”