Researchers conducted a pooled analysis of 1,479 population-based measurement studies with 19.1 million people to reveal hypertension trends between 1975 and 2015, according to The Lancet.
The study utilized a Bayesian hierarchical model to pinpoint trends in mean systolic and mean diastolic blood pressure as well as the prevalence of raised blood pressure in 200 countries.
Here are nine observations:
1. In 2015, the global age-standardized mean systolic blood pressure was 127 mm Hg in men and 122.3 mm Hg in women.
2. Age-standardized mean diastolic blood pressure was 78.7 mm Hg for men and 76.7 mm Hg for women in 2015.
3. In 2015, the analysis revealed global age-standardized prevalence of raised blood pressure was 24.1 percent in men and 20.1 percent in women.
4. In high-income western and Asia Pacific region-based countries, the mean systolic and mean diastolic blood pressure declined significantly from 1975 to 2015.
5. Women in central and eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, central Asia, the Middle East and north Africa have also seen drops in mean blood pressure.
6. The analysis found the mean blood pressure in east and southeast Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa increased.
7. Central and eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia clocked in with the highest blood pressure levels in 2015.
8. In 1975, 594 million adults had raised blood pressure, compared to 1.13 billion in 2015. Most of this increase occurred in low-income and middle-income countries.
9. The researchers noted the global surge in the number of adults with raised blood pressure, "is a net effect of increase due to population growth and ageing, and decrease due to declining age-specific prevalence."