From May 17 to May 24, the World Hypertension League (WHL) is sponsoring a “Know Your Numbers” campaign to raise awareness of high blood pressure. The goal is to have three million people receive blood pressure screenings.
The WHL, a nonprofit organization, has members from 60 national hypertension societies. It mentioned that approximately half of patients with hypertension are unaware they have the condition, while fewer than 20 percent have their hypertension under control.
In November 2015, the American Medical Association (AMA) and American Heart Association launched a “Target: BP” campaign aimed at controlling high blood pressure. Of the 80 million adults in the U.S. with high blood pressure, only half have the condition under control, according to an AMA news release. The AMA added that high blood pressure is associated with an estimated $46 billion in annual costs.
“In addition to its obvious devastating impact on patients and their families, heart disease has a massive financial ripple effect across the health care system,” AMA President Steven J. Stack, MD, said in a news release. “By empowering more patients to monitor and control their blood pressure, we will help improve health outcomes for patients and reduce health care costs.”
Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.