World Hypertension Day: Prevention, diagnosis and treatment

Worldwide, 46% of adults with hypertension are unaware of their condition¹. This fact underscores the importance of early diagnosis, especially as hypertension is a condition with few or no warning signs. As the world’s second-leading pharmaceutical group in hypertension², we have committed to working alongside patients and health care professionals. Our #BecauseISaySo campaign and the SNAPSHOT real-world evidence study are two examples of how we live out this commitment.

BecauseISaySo: Raising awareness about the importance of diagnosing hypertension

 “Measure Your Blood Pressure Accurately, Control It, Live Longer.” The aim of World Hypertension Day 2024, an initiative spearheaded by the World Hypertension League, is to focus on awareness and the low rate of diagnosis worldwide, and thus raise awareness of the importance of early detection.

At Servier, we fully support this day and also join in on the May Measure Month screening initiative organized by the International Society of Hypertension (ISH). For the past seven years, we have committed to improving hypertension screening through our #BecauseISaySo global awareness campaign. Its purpose is to give patients the information and tools they need to make checking their blood pressure a regular habit.

SNAPSHOT: An epidemiological study for patients living with hypertension

SNAPSHOT is a multinational, cross-sectional, epidemiological study with patient-reported outcomes. It was launched in 2020 with support from the Global Heart Hub patient organization.

Patients with hypertension generally present complex situations with multiple risk factors and co-morbidities. It should be noted that 50% of patients do not adhere to their treatment properly³, more than half of hypertensive patients are not treated⁴, and hypertension is controlled in only 21% of adults¹. Such huge unmet medical needs in hypertension are what inspired the idea for the SNAPSHOT study.

The objective of SNAPSHOT is to improve our current understanding on how hypertensive patients, with or without dyslipidemia and/or type 2 diabetes, are managed in real-world practice.

SNAPSHOT provided first insights on how patients with hypertension are managed currently⁵:

1. Underestimation of patients’ cardiovascular risk by physicians.
2. Overestimation of risk factors and lack of control.
3. Underuse of single pill combinations (SPCs) to manage risk factors.

[1] World Health Organization – WHO Report 2023 “Global report on Hypertension. The race against a silent killer” and https://www.who.int/fr/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hypertension
[2] IQVIA, Analytics Link / World 75 countries – MAT Q3-2023
[3] World Health Organization (https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/42682/9241545992.pdf)
[4] World Health Organization (https://www.who.int/fr/news/item/25-08-2021-more-than-700-million-people-with-untreated-hypertension)
[5] Abstract for SnapShot Romania_ Journal of Hypertension Vol 41, e-Supplement 3, December 2023 ; p212-213 (https://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/pages/default.aspx)