aims to “save 100 million lives from cardiovascular disease and prevent epidemics.”
The study notes some nations already have met or surpassed the intervention targets. Canada, for example, has achieved a 70% blood pressure control rate, while parts of the Kaiser Permanente system in the United States have shown a 90% control rate achievable.
A salt-reduction initiative in the United Kingdom, meanwhile, helped cut sodium intake there by 15% between 2003 and 2011. And Denmark’s near elimination of trans fat with a law that took effect in 2004 led the way for other countries in Europe and elsewhere to do the same. Canada and the United States recently banned artificial trans fats.
In the United States, high blood pressure accounts for more deaths related to heart disease and stroke than any other modifiable risk factor, according to the 2019 guidelines for preventing cardiovascular disease issued by the AHA and American College of Cardiology.
Dr. Daniel Muñoz, who helped write the guidelines, said the new study “reinforces the power of lifestyle factors. There’s an opportunity here to
