The number of young women dying of heart disease caused by high blood pressure has more than quadrupled in the past two decades, a new study has found.
Known as the ‘silent killer’, high blood pressure, or hypertension, as it is known medically, affects a third of adults in Britain.
Left unchecked, the condition can lead to hypertensive heart disease, which dramatically raises the risk of heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and even dementia.
But because it causes no symptoms, many go undiagnosed until serious damage is done.
Now, experts have raised alarm over the sharp spike in deaths of young women linked to high blood pressure over the last 20 years.
The condition now accounts for a growing proportion of deaths among women aged 25-44 years – rising from 1.1 to 4.8 per 100,000 deaths in this age group from 1999 to 2023.
‘Rising mortality for young women with hypertensive heart disease reflects an underestimation of cardiovascular risk, delayed diagnosis and missed opportunities for early intervention,’ said Dr Alexandra Millhuff, physician at the University of New Mexico and the study’s lead author.
‘This study underscores the urgent need for specific prevention strategies.’
Experts have raised alarm over the sharp spike in deaths of young women linked to high blood pressure over the last 20 years
The new findings come from a paper presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session, by a team of scientists at the University of New Mexico.
To assess the rates of hypertensive heart disease, researchers analysed the death certificate data from US women who died between the ages of 25 and 44.
In 1999, hypertensive heart disease accounted for just 1.1 of every 100,000 deaths occurring in young women.
By 2023, this had risen more than fourfold – with 4.8 in every 100,000 deaths due to high blood pressure-related heart disease.
More than 29,000 women died of the condition during the two decade study period.
Experts say the spike in deaths may be because women are prescribed blood pressure lowering medications at lower rates than men.
Heart disease treatment and awareness efforts, likewise, have often focused on men and postmenopausal women – with less attention given to cardiovascular risks in younger women.
As a result, younger women may be slipping through the cracks, the research team concluded – especially as this age group faces specific cardiovascular risks during pregnancy and menopause.
These include pregnancy complications like preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, which can carry long-term effects on heart health, as well as the reduction in oestrogen production around menopause, which weakens the heart.
‘We need to be screening patients of this demographic for hypertension more aggressively, and that includes mitigating risk factors and possibly using antihypertensive medications,’ said Dr Millhuff.
‘Even though hypertension is more prevalent in older populations, it’s something that we need to be vigilant about in younger populations, as well.’
In the UK, more than 14 million adults are estimated to now be living with high blood pressure – a figure that’s steadily rising, particularly amongst young people.
Lack of exercise, poor diet and excess alcohol have long been blamed for the rise in hypertension.
But chronic stress – particularly among the young – may also be taking a toll, say experts.
‘Living life online and the disruption this can have on sleep patterns impacts blood pressure over time,’ Dr Pauline Swift, consultant nephrologist at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust and chair of the Blood Pressure UK charity, told the Daily Mail last year.
‘You can be a slim and active young person in your 20s and 30s, but you can’t forget we live more sedentary lifestyles now.
‘People also eat what they think is a healthy diet, but processed foods are inevitably a part of it. Our salt intake is far higher than it ever was 20, 30, 40 years ago.’
Research suggests adults consume up to ten times the amount of sodium – the metallic element in salt – required for their metabolisms every day.
But tracking the reasons behind surging cases is in its early stages.
‘We can’t discount underlying genetic risks. We just don’t have enough research yet to know what those factors are,’ Dr Swift adds.
Symptoms of high blood pressure include headaches, blurred vision, chest pain, nose bleeds, according to the NHS.
Blood pressure is the force of blood pushing on artery walls. A certain level is needed to get blood around the body, and this rises and falls throughout the day.
But when it is consistently too high the arteries become narrower, which increases the risk of a stroke or heart attack from build up of fatty deposits as well as forcing the heart to work harder.
Measuring blood pressure produces two numbers: systolic — the pressure when the heart beats — and diastolic, the pressure between beats.
Anything above 140 (systolic) and 90 (diastolic) needs treating.
Blood pressure can be checked at home with a machine. Many pharmacies also offer free blood pressure checks for people who are aged 40 or older.
