Blood pressure rising: over 50% of Nigerians we tested had hypertension and over 65% didn’t know it

Hypertension – persistent high blood pressure – is one of the biggest contributors to strokes, heart failure and cardiac arrests.

It claims more than 10 million lives every year worldwide.

But it’s a largely treatable condition, manageable with relatively cheap medication and simple lifestyle changes.

That’s why detecting it early is so worthwhile.

In Nigeria, the burden of hypertension has been climbing for years.

According to the World Health Organization, the prevalence of hypertension among Nigerian adults is about 36% .

The scale of the challenge became clearer when our team of cardiologists set up blood pressure testing stations in Lagos for three months in 2023.

We set them up in hospitals, pharmacies, workplaces and public spaces across the city and tested as many as 1,500 adults who were passing us.

The results were concerning.

Our findings show that 52.5% of those who tested had hypertension, and of those with hypertension, 65.3% had no idea their blood pressure was high.

The care gap ran even deeper.

Only 13.8% of the people we identified as hypertensive were taking medication for their condition, and just 8.3% had their blood pressure under control.

Hypertension is blood pressure at 140/90 mmHg or above.

In a city of more than 20 million people, this meant that millions could be walking around unaware that they are living with a serious medical condition or not getting the care they need for it.