London, April 20 : The strains of modern life could soon give high blood pressure to more than half of adults and eventually cause a heart disease epidemic, revealed a study discussed by the European Parliament this week.

The study, partly authored by experts at the London School of Economics, said that the number of sufferers could soar 60 per cent by 2025 if urgent actions were not taken right away.

It also stated that the pressures of modern life did not only affect the elderly people.

“If high blood pressure was an infectious disease, we would mobilise against it as militantly as if it was avian influenza or Aids. But this silent condition continues to be grossly underestimated, despite its dangerous and far-reaching health consequences,” the Daily Mail one of the study author Dr. Panos Kanavos as saying.

“Uncontrolled high blood pressure among people in their thirties, forties and fifties will inevitably lead to an increase in cardiovascular disease and stroke that will strike down men and women at the height of their earning power,” the lecturer of international health policy said in the report.

He warned that work pressures could cause a significant proportion of adults to be transformed from workers who benefit the economy into “long-term recipients of social benefits with increased healthcare needs”.

Professor Bryan Williams of the British Hypertension Society suggested that simple lifestyle changes-less intake of salt, eating more fruits and vegetables and exercising-by the people would be required to keep blood pressure down.

“High blood pressure is a silent killer, it doesn’t have any significant symptoms unless it is very, very high,” he said.

“The only way to confidently detect the fact you have high blood pressure is to have it checked. It is incredibly important to identify people because it is often a portent of problems,” he added.

Professor Graham MacGregor of the Blood Pressure Association said that though high blood pressure was the leading cause of death and disability in the UK, such untoward events could be prevented.

“High blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking account for 80 per cent of all heart attacks and strokes,” he said.

“High blood pressure is totally preventable. There is no need to smoke and high cholesterol can be prevented by stopping eating saturated fats. If everybody in the world did that, we could get rid of strokes and heart disease,” he added.

Heart UK has cautioned authorities that if preventable steps are not taken, this condition will become the biggest cause of workers taking long-term sick leave by the end of the next decade. (ANI)