A New Study on How to Prevent and Control Hypertension
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released a new report that identifies “high-priority areas on which public health organizations and professionals should focus in order to accelerate progress in hypertension reduction and control.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asked the IOM to create this report because hypertension is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. One in six Americans die every year from high blood pressure. This in turn puts enormous pressure on our health care system, it’s estimated that $73.4 billion dollars, direct and indirect was spent in 2009.
With the health care debate front and center in most conversations in this country, we need to start battling the costs associated with the way we treat our citizens….in addition, we need to educate people how to take better care of themselves. The two areas that they can focus on is eating more fruits and vegetables and getting more physical activity during the day. With the constant rising costs of medical malpractice insurance for doctors, health care costs for individuals and group plans, and an aging population that is going to strain our economy…..we need to start making these changes yesterday.
