Unfortunately for many, high blood pressure is thought only to hit the obese, the stressed-out or the junk-food addicts of the world, unhealthy and riddled with self-inflicted problems. The reality is, anyone can be struck at any time – many of us are entirely unaware we already have been.

Lothians GP Dean Marshall said: "The best analogy I can give about high blood pressure is that it is like household plumbing. If you have an increased build-up of pressure, something is going to give. In this case, damage will be done and it will be to a person's arteries. So many people are unaware they have the condition because there are no symptoms whatsoever.

"Often it can be due to family history and sufferers can end up coming from nowhere, perhaps only when having their high blood pressure recognised when joining a gym, for example."

Figures released this week show high blood pressure – or hypertension – accounts for 13 per cent of all early deaths worldwide. Research published in The Lancet revealed that in 2001 – the latest year for which global data is available – there were 7.6 million deaths due to hypertension. In the same year, the condition was responsible for 54 per cent of strokes and 47 per cent of heart disease.

More alarmingly perhaps is that hypertension is not a problem affecting only high-income, western countries – a long-held misunderstanding – as studies show 80 per cent of deaths linked to the condition now occur in the developing world.

New Zealand's Dr Carlene Lawes and Professor Anthony Rodgers, of the University of Auckland, led a team of researchers estimating the worldwide burden of disease attributable to high blood pressure.

For the purposes of the study, high blood pressure was defined as an average systolic reading of 115 millimetres (mm Hg) of mercury or more. Systolic blood pressure is pressure occurring with each heart beat and a good reading is considered not higher than 120mm. It emerged that in 2001 wealthy countries experienced 1.39 million premature deaths from hypertension, while 6.22 million were in low to middle-income locations.

This article was published in th Evening News on the 6th May 2008. To read the full article, click here

Published on: 7/5/2008

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