Is hypertension a fatal disease today? Proceedings of a satellite symposium held during the 21st European Meeting on Hypertension and Cardiovascular Prevention Milan (Italy), June 17-20, 2011. Foreword.

摘要

"Is hypertension a fatal disease today?" The question discussed at this Satellite Symposium of the 2011 Scientific Meeting of the European Society of Hypertension is obviously of the utmost importance, and the answer is straightforward: unfortunately, it is. As is well illustrated in the first paper by Professor Chalmers' group, high blood pressure "is responsible for 7.6 million deaths per annum worldwide, more than any other risk factor". This predominant role of hypertension among the causes of death is in part due to the success of medicine:, reduction of infant mortality, improvement of social and hygienic conditions, increased aging, in such a way that hypertension is no longer the top killer in developed countries only, but it is becoming the top killer in many of the developing parts of the world also.