The bad news is that, with an aging population, hypertension – high blood pressure – rates are continuing to rise across Canada. Nearly 21 per cent of Ontarians are living with the condition and the percentage increases with age. Thus, in the 60-79 year age group, 52 per cent are hypertensive.
The good news, however, is that the percentage of people whose high blood pressure is diagnosed and controlled with treatment has increased five-fold since the early 1990s. At that time only 12 per cent of those with hypertension were being treated and controlled. By 2006, that number had jumped to 66 per cent.
These findings come from a new study by the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and Statistics Canada. Results from the  "Ontario Survey on the Prevalence and Control of Hypertension" were published last month in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
In fact, says Dr. George Fodor, co-principal investigator with the Ottawa Heart Institute, the rate of treatment and control is higher than that reported in the U.S. for 2003-04 and may be one of the highest in the world.
"This is excellent news and reflects the consistent and significant efforts made in educating and supporting both health-care practitioners and patients in pharmacological and non-pharmacological blood-pressure management," he says.
Over the past decade, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, in partnership with the Ontario Ministries of Health and Health Protection, has devoted extensive resources to education on hypertension prevention, diagnosis and management, including on-line consumer tolls like the Blood Pressure Action Plan (see heartandstroke.ca).
But the experts warn that there is still more to be done, particularly as the population ages and as ethnic diversity continues to grow. The study is the first in Canada to demonstrate that hypertension rates differ among ethnic groups. East Asians show the lowest rates, whereas South Asians and Blacks have the highest and the latter also tend to develop the problem at younger ages.
Says lead investigator Dr. Frans Leenen, of the Ottawa Heart Institute, "Although hypertension is preventable, it is estimated that the condition will develop in 90 per cent of Canadians. These are important challenges and there is much that can be done to improve health through prevention and control."