266m Chinese suffer from hypertension

At least one in five adults in China suffers from hypertension, or high blood pressure, an official with the national disease control agency said on Tuesday. A total of 266 million Chinese suffer from hypertension and, among those aged 15 and above, about 24 percent have the condition, said Shi Xiaoming, head of the chronic diseases division at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 40 percent of patients are not aware of their hypertension and only about 25 percent of patients receive treatment, Shi said. About 15 percent of adolescents and 30 percent of obese adolescents have blood pressure levels that are higher than the expected level, but still within the healthy range, Shi said on Tuesday, China's National Hypertension Day. High blood pressure is a main risk factor for heart attacks, heart failure, stroke and other arterial diseases. Arterial diseases have been a serious public health problem in China, Shi said. The increased incidence of hypertension has been caused by changes in lifestyle and diet, and preventing the condition requires not only medication but also people's awareness, he said.