kochi over 75 of hypertensive patients in india did not have their blood pressure under control during 201620 according to a study published in the lancet regional healthsoutheast asia reports preetu nair uncontrolled hypertension is a significant contributor to mortality in india the 201920 national family health survey reported a hypertension prevalence of 24 in men and 21 among women hypertension control rate is defined as the proportion of patients with bp under control systolic 140 mmhg and diastolic 90 mmhg less than onefourth of hypertensive patients in india had their blood pressure under control during 201620 showed a study published in the lancet regional health southeast asia in which researchers from kerala were also involved in other words over 75 detected with hypertension dont have it under control the study based on systematic review and metaanalysis of populationlevel noninterventional studies that reported hypertension control rate between 2001 and 2022 in india is important as uncontrolled hypertension is a significant contributor to mortality here the 201920 national family health survey nfhs5 reported a hypertension prevalence of 24 in men and 21 among women in india an increase from 19 and 17 respectively from the previous round 201516 however despite efforts by the central and state health ministries awareness and better access to healthcare facilities the number of patients able to control hypertension has only grown from 6 to 23 in the last 21 yearshypertension control rate is defined as the proportion of patients with their blood pressure under control systolic blood pressure 140 mmhg and diastolic blood pressure 90 mmhg it is estimated that at least one in four adults in india has hypertension uncontrolled blood pressure is one of the main risk factors for cardiovascular diseases cvd and globally is the most common cause of death cvds are also responsible for onethird of total deaths in india in other words hypertension kills more adults than any other cause ensuring hypertension treatment and control can save millions of lives in the next decade said dr altaf ali department of community medicine government medical college thiruvananthapuram and who is part of the studyresearchers included 51 studies involving 338313 hypertensive patients of these 21 studies 41 reported poorer control rates among males than females and six studies 12 reported poorer control rates among rural patients the pooled hypertension control rate in india during 200120 was 18 with significant increase over the years reaching 23 in 201620 subgroup analysis showed significantly better control rates in the south and west regions and significantly poorer control rates among males very few studies reported data on social determinants or on lifestyle risk factors they observedindia has definitely improved its hypertension control rates over the years but we still have a large problem of undiagnosed and uncontrolled bp in the community there is a need to develop and evaluate sustainable communitybased strategies and programs to improve hypertension control rates added dr shaffi fazaludeen koya the corresponding author of the study