[Health Focus] “Strengthening high blood pressure management can prevent approximately 510,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease per year.”

U.S. research team models data from 20 countries around the world... “Expansion of preventive medicine, greater effect in preventing death”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jooyoung Lee = A study showed that if high blood pressure is properly managed, more than 518,000 deaths due to cardiovascular disease can be prevented each year in 20 countries around the world.

Analysis shows that the effect of controlling high blood pressure in preventing death from cardiovascular diseases is greater than administering cholesterol-lowering drugs or managing blood sugar levels in diabetic patients.

At the American Heart Association (AHA) Hypertension Science Session 2026 held in Arlington, Virginia, on the 12th, Dr. Scott Pillar's team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine analyzed preventive medical service data from 20 upper-middle- and lower-middle-income countries with a high number of deaths from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and revealed that expanding hypertension control was estimated to have the greatest death prevention effect.

The research team said that this result clearly demonstrates the importance of preventive medical services and supports the need to make hypertension a top priority in managing major non-infectious diseases to prevent premature death worldwide.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for approximately three-fifths of deaths worldwide, with approximately 73% of these deaths occurring in low- or middle-income countries. Additionally, cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes more deaths than other chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease.

Dr. Pilar explained, “In this study, we analyzed existing data to evaluate whether expanding the use of non-communicable disease preventive medical services in 20 countries around the world could reduce cardiovascular disease deaths.”

In 20 countries with a high number of deaths from non-infectious diseases, we modeled how much death could be reduced by increasing the use of six types of preventive medical services, including high blood pressure control, cholesterol-lowering drug (statin) treatment, blood sugar control for diabetics, and colon, breast, and cervical cancer screening.

In the countries studied, the current hypertension control rate was about 20%, the statin drug use rate was 16%, the blood sugar control rate for diabetic patients was 39%, and the colon cancer screening rate was 14%.

As a result of analyzing the effect of strengthening preventive medical services on preventing death, it was estimated that if the hypertension control rate was increased from the current approximately 20% to 80%, cardiovascular disease deaths could be reduced by 518,476 per year.

Additionally, it was estimated that if the use of statin drugs was increased from 16% to 80%, cardiovascular disease deaths could be reduced by 340,682 per year, and if the blood sugar control rate of diabetic patients was increased from 39% to 70%, annual deaths could be reduced by 309,520.

In the case of colon cancer, it was analyzed that if the screening rate was increased from 14% to 80%, 206,767 deaths related to colon cancer could be prevented annually.

The research team said that each figure is based on the assumption that the modeling results for each preventive medical service will raise the current level of service use to the level observed in a medical system with excellent medical performance, and that it does not mean that deaths will actually decrease that much.

However, high blood pressure can damage blood vessels and increase the risk of serious diseases such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, and stroke, and can affect adults of all ages. He explained that high blood pressure is a common but manageable factor among cardiovascular disease.

“This study demonstrates the potential global impact of high blood pressure,” said Dr. Daniel W. Jones, former president of the American Heart Association, who was not involved in the study, in a commentary. “It offers the potential to reduce deaths from hypertension-related diseases through treatment.”

He continued, “If you manage your high blood pressure to reach your target blood pressure, you can not only live longer but also live healthier,” and added, “Medical staff and patients should pay more attention to proper blood pressure management through lifestyle modification and drug treatment.”

◆ Source: American Heart Association Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2026, Scott Pilla et al., “Hypertension Control Prevents More Deaths Than Other Clinical Preventive Services: Results from a Modeling Study in 20 Countries”