OBJECTIVETo quantify the burden of disease related to high blood pressure in the Chinese population.

METHODSWe used results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010 (GBD 2010) in China. Data for mean systolic blood pressure, burden of deaths,Years of Life Lost(YLLs), Years Lived with Disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and relative risk were corrected for regression dilution bias to calculate the population impact fractions and estimate the attributable deaths and DALYs.

RESULTSAmong all the deaths due to cardiovascular diseases and DALYs, 64.0% of them were caused by high blood pressure. In 2010, a total number of 2.043 million deaths were caused by high blood pressure, including 1.154 million males. 2.007 million deaths were due to cardiovascular diseases, 35 000 due to chronic kidney diseases. Deaths caused by high blood pressure accounted for 24.6% of all the deaths. In total, 37.94 million person-years DALYs were caused by high blood pressure, of which 23.33 million person-years were males and 14.61 million person-years were females. There were 2.365 million person-years of YLDs and 35.57 million person-years of YLLs, which both accounted for 12% of the total DALYs.

CONCLUSIONCompared to the global results of GBD 160, on either deaths or DALYs, the proportion attributable to high blood pressure were quite high for a country like China. The health effects caused by high blood pressure seemed to be quite serious which called for attention.