2012 HYPERTENSION FACT SHEET

The World Health Organization identifies increased blood pressure (hypertension) as

the leading risk for death in the world.

Increased blood pressure is the cause of:
50% of cardiovascular disease, including more than 6 in 10 strokes
50% heart failure and 25% of kidney failure
13% of premature deaths overall; and over 40% of deaths in people with diabetes.

Close to one in four adult Canadians have been diagnosed with hypertension and many are
not aware their blood pressure is high.
19 in 20 Canadians are estimated to develop hypertension if they live an average life span.
Hypertension is the leading diagnosis for Canadian adults visiting a physician, accounting for
21 million physician visits in 2009.
In 2007/08, over 6 million Canadians had been diagnosed with hypertension and 1,100 were
being diagnosed every day.
An estimated 7.5 million Canadian adults currently have diagnosed hypertension.
The proportion of adults diagnosed with hypertension doubled between 1998 and 2007.

Cardiovascular diseases and hypertension are draining the Canadian health care system.
Heart disease, stroke, and hypertension cost the Canadian health care system an estimated
$7.4 billion each year in hospital, physician, and drug costs and account for an addition $12.8
billion a year in productivity losses due to premature death and disability.
Antihypertensive drugs are the most costly therapeutic category.
In 2010, there were over 80,000,000 antihypertensive drug prescriptions at a cost of over 3
billion dollars, accounting for 13% of total drug costs.
In 2007, almost 50% of Canadian women over the age of 60 were taking antihypertensive
medication.
Direct health costs of hypertension are similar to the combined costs of heart attack, stroke
and heart failure.

The causes of hypertension are largely known and are preventable.
Hypertension is caused by obesity, unhealthy eating including high salt (sodium), physical
inactivity and alcohol intake.
Healthy lifestyle is at the heart of healthy blood pressure. In particular, interventions to
reduce population-wide salt intake have been shown repeatedly to be cost saving, effective
and efficient.



2011 Hypertension Discussion Paper
Jointly developed by the HSFC CIHR
Chair in Hypertension Prevention and
Control and Hypertension Canada
Outlines 10 objectives for 2020 along
with 6 overarching recommendations
for preventing and controlling
hypertension, including
1. Building healthy public policy;
2. Re-orienting the health care delivery
system;
3. Building partnerships to create
supportive environments;
4. Strengthening community action;
developing personal skills for better
self management;
5. Improving decision support; and
6. Optimizing information systems.
A 12-member Advisory Committee of
National Health and Scientific
Organizations has been formed to
operationalize the framework.

WHAT HYPERTENSION PREVENTION AND CONTROL OPPORTUNITIES ARE UNDERWAY?

Reducing Dietary Sodium
An estimated 30% of hypertension in Canada is caused by excess dietary sodium.
In 2007, a coalition of national health care professional and scientific organizations formed a
structured program to stimulate policy development to reduce dietary sodium in Canada as
public and patient education alone has very limited effect on dietary sodium intake.
Government implementation of these policy recommendations could prevent 3 in 10 cases
of hypertension and over 50,000 cardiovascular events a year while reducing health care
costs by billions of dollars.
National health organizations have developed extensive public and health care education
programs to aid dietary sodium reduction.

Hypertension Canada
Hypertension Canada is a national organization with a mission for advancing health by the
prevention and control of high blood pressure through research, advocacy, education and
knowledge development and translation. Hypertension Canada is the home for many of the
volunteers and national programs for prevention and control of hypertension.

Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP),
Hypertension Canada
Now in its 13
th
year, CHEPs mandate is to
improve hypertension management primarily by
education of health care practitioners.
CHEP activities have been associated with
marked increases in the diagnosis of
hypertension, its treatment and with a reduction
in death and hospitalization from its major
complications of stroke, heart attack and heart
failure. The treatment and control rate for
hypertension increased more than 5 fold since
the CHEP inception (i.e. from 13% to 66%).

HSFC CIHR Chair in Hypertension Prevention and
Control
Leadership position jointly funded by the Heart
and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian
Institute for Health Research to advance the
prevention and control of hypertension.
The Chair interacts with Canadian Health Care
Organizations and Governments to stimulate
healthy policy change and to coordinate actions
for the prevention and control of hypertension.