WASHINGTON, May 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Instances of uncontrolled hypertension will rise dramatically, triggering a global cardiovascular disease epidemic, unless governments and healthcare policymakers take  immediate and wide-ranging corrective action, three international health  experts warned today in a report signed on by 14 leading medical groups and  voluntary health organizations from around the world.

"During the past 40 years, focused efforts to diagnose and control high
blood pressure have helped to achieve significant reductions in
cardiovascular disease, stroke incidence and death in the United States,"
stated Dr. Michael Weber, SUNY Downstate Medical College, New York, one of
the authors of the report. "However, we have become complacent. The number
of people with high blood pressure is once again on the rise."

The report, High Blood Pressure and Health Policy: Where We Are and
Where We Need to Go Next, examines the serious medical, economic and human
health consequences of high blood pressure, while detailing how to
short-circuit a predicted 60% rise over the next 18 years in the number of
people suffering from high blood pressure. This means an estimated 1.56
billion people worldwide could be affected by the condition by 2025.
Currently, one billion people globally and approximately 72 million
Americans have high blood pressure.

Released today in the U.S. at a briefing of healthcare professional and
patient advocacy organizations in Washington, D.C., the report authors
predict that in the U.S. and other developed nations, the number of adults
with high blood pressure will increase from 333 million to 413 million by
2025. The report warns that in developing countries, the number of people
with hypertension could rise by 80% to 1.15 billion, meaning that almost
three- quarters of people with high blood pressure will be in developing
countries by 2025.