Research
Mixed
High blood pressure is the single largest contributor to cardiovascular disease deaths globally, followed by smoking in men and high BMI in women.
Prioritize blood pressure management above all other cardiovascular risk factors, as it causes the most deaths globally. For men, quitting smoking is the next most critical step. For women, maintaining a healthy body weight is the second most important factor after blood pressure.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
The majority of the risk factor–attributable CVD deaths result from elevated blood pressure, followed by smoking for men and by high BMI for women...
Why this rating
Based on global comparative risk assessment studies with large sample sizes and robust epidemiological data.
Source
Worldwide Exposures to Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Associated Health Effects
Ioanna Tzoulaki et al. · Circulation · 2016
DOI 10.1161/circulationaha.115.008718
narrative_reviewCited 237×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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