Addressing global disparities in blood pressure control: perspectives of the International Society of Hypertension

Raised blood pressure (BP) is the leading cause of preventable death in the world. Yet, its global prevalence is increasing, and it remains poorly detected, treated, and controlled in both high- and low-resource settings. From the perspective of members of the International Society of Hypertension based in all regions, we reflect on the past, present, and future of hypertension care, highlighting key challenges and opportunities, which are often region-specific. We report that most countries failed to show sufficient improvements in BP control rates over the past three decades, with greater improvements mainly seen in some high-income countries, also reflected in substantial reductions in the burden of cardiovascular disease and deaths. Globally, there are significant inequities and disparities based on resources, sociodemographic environment, and race with subsequent disproportionate hypertension-related outcomes. Additional unique challenges in specific regions include conflict, wars, migration, unemployment, rapid urbanization, extremely limited funding, pollution, COVID-19-related restrictions and inequalities, obesity, and excessive salt and alcohol intake. Immediate action is needed to address suboptimal hypertension care and related disparities on a global scale. We propose a Global Hypertension Care Taskforce including multiple stakeholders and societies to identify and implement actions in reducing inequities, addressing social, commercial, and environmental determinants, and strengthening health systems implement a well-designed customized quality-of-care improvement framework

An innovative prognostic model for predicting diabetes risk in the Thai population

Objective: To estimate the prevalence and type 2 diabetes, and to develop a prognostic model for identifying individuals at high risk of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. Research design and methods: The study was designed as a cross-sectional investigation with 4314 participants of Thai background, aged between 15 and 85. years (mean age: 48). Fasting plasma glucose was initially measured, and repeated if the first measurement was more than 126. mg/dl. Type 2 diabetes was diagnosed using the World Health Organization's criteria. Logistic regression model was used to develop prognostic models for men and women separately. The prognostic performance of the model was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and a nomogram was constructed from the logistic regression model. Results: The overall prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 7.4% (n= 125/1693) in men and 3.4% (n= 98/2621) in women. In either gender, the prevalence increased with age and body mass index (BMI). Gender, age, BMI and systolic blood pressure (SBP) were independently associated with type 2 diabetes risk. Based on the estimated parameters of model, a nomogram was constructed for predicting diabetes separated by gender. The AUC for the model with 3 factors was 0.75. Conclusions: These data suggest that the combination of age, BMI and systolic blood pressure could help identify Thai individuals at high risk of undiagnosed diabetes. © 2011