Raised blood pressure has been the leading risk factor for death in Australia for the past three decades, according to a study published February 21, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE led by Alta Schutte and Xiaoyue Xu from The George Institute for Global Health and UNSW, Sydney, with colleagues across Australia.
It is also the main contributor to deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) specifically.
Raised blood pressure has long been recognized as a contributing factor to CVD and death, but is not always prioritized in national health plans. This study focused on Australia, which lags behind other high-income countries in hypertension control.
Researchers analyzed epidemiologic data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study between 1990 and 2019 to determine the leading risk factors associated with both all-cause and CVD deaths.
They found that while the contribution of raised blood pressure to these outcomes declined early in the study period (from around 54% to around 44%), it persisted as the leading risk factor for all-cause and CVD deaths.
Dietary factors and tobacco use were the next most significant risk factors. Differences by gender and age were also noted, such as higher stroke-related death contributions in males aged 25–49 years, exceeding 60%.
These findings strongly support the recently established National Hypertension Taskforce of Australia, which aims to improve Australia’s blood pressure control rates from 32% to 70% by 2030. The results reinforce the importance of strengthening primary care to improve the prevention, detection, treatment, and control of raised blood pressure.
The researchers emphasize the need for urgent and targeted action, highlighting that prioritizing blood pressure control on Australia’s public health agenda could significantly reduce deaths over the next decade.
The study is published in PLOS ONE.
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