Cerebrovascular and other heart diseases mean a huge issue for humanity

Currently, some one billion people worldwide are reported to have hypertension. In Japan, this number is estimated to be 43 million. The most frightening aspect of hypertension is that disease progression usually occurs without symptoms, yet it still can cause serious cerebrovascular or cardiovascular conditions such as stroke and heart attack. The world’s leading cause of death today is ischemic heart disease. Stroke is the second largest cause. But even when these cerebrovascular/cardiovascular diseases do not result in death, patients are at risk of becoming bedridden or other serious health issues. Such cases severely impact the patients’ quality of life and significantly burden their families as well. Japan’s second-biggest killer in 2017 was heart disease, including heart attack. Cerebrovascular diseases such as cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage ranked third. Taken together, all these diseases represent health issues that must be addressed.