A 25-year-long-study has revealed that high BP and a bad diet have replaced child maternal malnutrition and unsafe water-sanitation as the leading risks for death over the last two and a half decades among both men and women.
This comes as red alert for Indians, with 139 million of them suffering from high BP which stands at 14% of the global burden of uncontrolled hypertension. WHO says that since 1980, the number of Indians suffering from high BP rose by 87 million.
The study , conducted by researchers working on the Global Burden of Disease project looked at 79 risk factors for death in 188 countries between 1990 and 2013. Their findings say that high BP in 2013 contributed to 10.4 million deaths around the world, while its impact on mortality grew by 49.1% between 1990 and 2013. High BP grew 39.9% for women as against 59% for men. High BP, smoking, high body mass index and diabetes were the top risk factors for death , the study says.
