Slightly over 45% of Romania’s adult population suffers from high blood pressure, the figure being 5 percentage points higher than five years ago, according to the SEPHAR III study conducted by the Romanian Society of Hypertension (SRH).

“Relative to Romania’s population, it means that, in 2016, an estimated 7.4 million people suffer from hypertension - the primary risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, which are responsible for the highest number of deaths both globally and in Romania,” reads the study cited by local Agerpres.

However, the percentage of people with high blood pressure is expected to enter a downward trend and reach 44% by 2020.

Only four in five (80.9%) of the hypertensive adults knew that they suffer from this disease, while the remaining 19.1% were diagnosed during the SEPHAR III study. However, the percentage of those who are aware that they have this health problem had increased compared to 2005 when only 44.3% of the hypertensive adults knew that they have this condition. Moreover, the figure is expected to grow to 96.2% in the coming years, according to SRH president Maria Dorobantu.

The same upward trend can also be found among people undergoing treatment for hypertension. Thus, if 59.2% of the hypertensive individuals were treated in 2012, the percentage increased to 75.2% in 2016 and is expected to reach 91.2% by 2020.

The SEPHAR III study was carried out between October 16, 2015, and April 25, 2016, on a sample of 1,942 people.

More Romanians want to have a healthy lifestyle, study shows

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com