May Measurement Month 2018: a pragmatic global screening campaign to raise awareness of blood pressure by the International Society of Hypertension

Aims Raised blood pressure (BP) is the biggest contributor to mortality and disease burden worldwide and fewer than half of those with hypertension are aware of it. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global campaign set up in 2017, to raise awareness of high BP and as a pragmatic solution to a lack of formal screening worldwide. The 2018 campaign was expanded, aiming to include more participants and countries. Methods and results Eighty-nine countries participated in MMM 2018. Volunteers (≥18 years) were recruited through opportunistic sampling at a variety of screening sites. Each participant had three BP measurements and completed a questionnaire on demographic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or taking antihypertensive medication. In total, 74.9% of screenees provided three BP readings. Multiple imputation using chained equations was used to impute missing readings. 1 504 963 individuals (mean age 45.3 years; 52.4% female) were screened. After multiple imputation, 502 079 (33.4%) individuals had hypertension, of whom 59.5% were aware of their diagnosis and 55.3% were taking antihypertensive medication. Of those on medication, 60.0% were controlled and of all hypertensives, 33.2% were controlled. We detected 224 285 individuals with untreated hypertension and 111 214 individuals with inadequately treated (systolic BP ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg) hypertension. Conclusion May Measurement Month expanded significantly compared with 2017, including more participants in more countries. The campaign identified over 335 000 adults with untreated or inadequately treated hypertension. In the absence of systematic screening programmes, MMM was effective at raising awareness at least among these individuals at risk

May measurement month 2018: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from Indonesia.

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a significant burden worldwide, leading to high cardio-cerebro-reno-vascular morbidity and mortality. For the second year of the May Measurement Month (MMM) campaign in Indonesia in 2018, we recruited 174 sites in 31 out of 34 provinces in Indonesia and screened through convenience sampling in public areas and rural primary health centres. Hypertension was defined as systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, or both, or on the basis of receiving antihypertensive medication. Blood pressure was measured three times followed the standard global MMM protocol, multiple imputation was used to estimate the mean of the 2nd and 3rd BP readings if these were not recorded. A total of 91 222 individuals were screened, and after multiple imputations, 27 331 (30.0%) had hypertension. Of individuals not receiving antihypertensive medication, 14 367 (18.4%) were hypertensive. Among the 47.4% of hypertensive individuals on antihypertensive medication, 10 106 (78.0%) had uncontrolled BP. MMM17 and MMM18 were still the most extensive standardized screening campaigns for BP measurement in Indonesia. Compared to the previous study, the proportion with uncontrolled BP on medication was significantly higher and provided the substantial challenges in managing hypertension in the rural community

May measurement month 2017: an analysis of the blood pressure screening campaign results in Indonesia-South-East Asia and Australasia.

Elevated blood pressure (BP) is a growing burden worldwide, leading to over 10 million deaths each year. Our previous primary health surveys in 2013 and 2018 show that 25.8% to 34.1% of adults have raised BP, which is associated with cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and renovascular morbidity and mortality. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative aimed at raising awareness of high BP and to act as a temporary solution to the lack of screening programmes worldwide. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 was carried out in May 2017. Blood pressure measurement, the definition of hypertension and statistical analysis followed the standard MMM protocol. We recruited 292 sites in all 34 provinces in Indonesia, and screened in public areas and offices as well as health centres. A total of 69 307 individuals were screened. After multiple imputation, 23 892 (34.5%) had hypertension. Of individuals not receiving antihypertensive medication, 20.0% were hypertensive. Among individuals receiving antihypertensive medication, 7885 (62.8%) had uncontrolled BP. MMM17 was the largest standardized screening campaign for BP measurement in our country. The proportion of individuals identified with hypertension and the percentage of those with uncontrolled BP on medication provide evidence of the substantial challenges in managing hypertension in the community. These results suggest that opportunistic screening can identify significant numbers of individuals with raised BP