High blood pressure kills more U.S.women

JACKSON, Miss., Feb. 13 (UPI) -- High blood pressure kills significantly more U.S. women than men and is two to three times more common in women who take oral contraceptives, a study said.

A special-themed issue of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association features more than 45 studies and editorials related to women and hypertension. The issue commemorates the fifth anniversary of the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women movement, which raises awareness of heart disease risks for women.

Hypertension Editor in Chief John E. Hall of the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss., said in a preface to the journal that previous studies showed about 60 percent of hypertensive women are treated, and of those treated, only about one-third had their blood pressure controlled at optimum levels.

"Thus, inadequate control of high blood pressure continues to be the most important, and potentially treatable, cause of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women," Hall said in a statement.