High blood pressure is the leading risk factor for mortality and morbidity globally, and around 1/3 of adults are estimated to have hypertension in the Middle East. To date, there are few systematic assessments of the extent to which hypertension is diagnosed and managed in the Arab region. Researchers from the Center for Research on Population and Health at the Faculty of Health Sciences conducted a comprehensive review summarizing the evidence on hypertension management to identify where losses occur in the hypertension continuum of care in the different countries of the Arab region.
Results show suboptimal rates of awareness, treatment and control of hypertension with more than 40% and 19% of all hypertensive individuals found to be unaware and to have uncontrolled blood pressure, respectively. This analysis also indicates that barriers to proper diagnosis and adequate control are greater than barriers to delivery of treatment. Considerable efforts are needed to generate consistent data across the different Arab countries, and to identify ways to overcome existing barriers in hypertension management.
To read the full study, please click HERE