High blood pressure tops the list of preventable deaths in China

"High blood pressure is the leading preventable cause of death in China, causing 2.3 million deaths a year, researchers reported on Monday. Their paper, released online by The Lancet, was done by scientists at Tulane University, the National Center for Cardiovascular Disease in Beijing and other institutions. It was based on a study of nearly 170,000 Chinese ages 40 or over who were first gathered in 1991 for medical exams that included blood pressure tests. About 1.3 million of the deaths occurred in men under age 72 or women under 75, the average life expectancies in China in 2005. Most were caused by strokes and aneurysms, followed by heart attacks. The study was financed by the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health and China’s Ministries of Health and Science and Technology" - New York Times