May Measurement Month – May 2025

History of May Measurement Month

Hypertension is a condition that is as old as humans. The condition is more prevalent in adults, and an estimated 46% of adults with hypertension are unaware that they have the condition. Less than half of adults (42%) with hypertension are diagnosed and treated, and approximately 21% of adults have it under control. The work of a Physician, William Harvey, in understanding the cardiovascular system is where the modern history of hypertension begins. Harvey described the circulation of blood in his book “De Motu Cordis” in 1628. In 1733, English Clergyman Stephen Hales made the first published measurement of blood pressure to add further strides in the world of cardiovascular treatment. Over the years, several people gave descriptions of what would come to be called hypertension. Amongst them are Thomas Young in 1808 and Richard Bright in 1836.

Bright noted a link between kidney disease and cardiac hypertrophy (increase and growth of muscle cells), and subsequently, kidney disease was often termed Bright’s disease in that period. In 1850, George Johnson made the suggestion that the thickened blood vessels seen in the kidney in Bright’s disease might be due to the kidney trying to adapt to elevated blood pressure levels. In 1855 and 1856, respectively, William Senhouse and Ludwig Traube suggested that based on pathological findings, elevated blood pressure levels could account for the association between left ventricular hypertrophy to kidney damage in Bright’s disease.

Then, physician Samuel Wilks believed that left ventricular hypertrophy and diseased arteries were not necessarily associated with diseased kidneys, implying that high blood pressure might occur in people with healthy kidneys. Frederick Akbar Mahomed, in 1874, used a sphygmograph to give the first report of elevated blood pressure in a person without evidence of kidney disease.