TEHRAN – According to statistics, 21.9 percent of wealthy Iranians and 30.1 percent of poor ones suffer from high blood pressure, the deputy health minister Baqer Larijani announced, IRNA reported on Saturday.

The national campaign for controlling hypertension which began on May 17, World Hypertension Day, focuses on the issue as one of the most important causes of cardiovascular disease, which is the main reason for 40 percent of deaths in Iran.

The wealth of a family has a great impact on decreasing the number of people suffering from high blood pressure.

Affluent people receive better medical treatments on time, he explained.

Education also affects the blood pressure control among educated people.

About 53.2 percent of illiterate people suffer from hypertension while the figure is 18 percent among people with academic education, he said.

The ignorance of people about hypertension increases the risk of its consequences, he lamented.

About 25 percent of men in rural and urban areas in Iran are suffering from high blood pressure, while the figure is 26.5 percent among women in rural areas and 30 percent in urban areas, he added.

A total of 30 percent of people living in the cities and 27 percent of those who live in villages suffer from hypertension.

According to statistics, women living in Lorestan Province have the most high blood pressure amongst the Iranians above 18 years old and the women in Fars Province have the least number of people with hypertension, he added.

The men living in Kordestan Province are on the top list of patients suffering from hypertension and the men of Zanjan Province are on the bottom list.

Last week, the Health Ministry announced that about three million and 300 thousand Iranians have registered their blood pressure information at the ministry’s comprehensive network, entitled SIB, Persian acronym for ‘Integrated Health System’.

A total of 55 thousand people also submitted their information online self-declaration form for blood pressure on the ministry’s website.

Over 40 million of Iran’s population is older than 30 years old and is the target population in addition to pregnant women and those with kidney diseases, he explained.

The campaign is underway in 18,000 local health centers, 6,700 health service departments, 240 clinics and 1002 hospitals nationwide and it is predicted that at least 2461 stands in different parts of cities observe blood pressure of citizens during the campaign, he explained.

100,000 Iranians die of high blood pressure annually

In mid-May, the Health Ministry’s director for non-communicable diseases Afshin Ostovar announced that About 100,000 Iranians die of high blood pressure annually.

One third of Iranian population above 30 suffer from hypertension and during past 25 years, the number of Iranians suffering from hypertension has increased by three-fold in Iran.

Some 97,000 Iranians died of diseases caused by hypertension in 2017, according to Dr. Ramin Heshmat, who is an associate professor of epidemiology in Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

World Health Organization (WHO) has set a target for a 25% relative reduction in the prevalence of raised blood pressure by 2025.

SB/MQ/MG