The economic burden of hypertension

Hypertension or abnormally high blood pressure is a serious and stealth condition that leads to heart attack, stroke and renal diseases. It has become a major and growing public health problem worldwide that requires an integrated approach. Even worse, the increase in the incidence of hypertension is expected to continue, with the disease manifesting a grave impact on the quality of life of hypertensive patients and their families, as well as on mortality and morbidity. As a result, this epidemiological trend generates great costs in medical care, making the need for financial resource allocation and health care system capacity planning imperative. Expenses to treat hypertension especially in countries with public health care systems can easily drain the public coffers. In this chapter we aim to assess the costs and financial consequences of hypertension worldwide.